Tokyo Report: Digital Camera Makers Come Out with New Features

Tokyo, Oct. 19 (Jiji Press)--Japanese manufacturers of compact
digital cameras are introducing a string of new products with unique
functions, in a bid to overcome market saturation and sluggish consumption.
In August, Fujifilm Corp. leased a camera that records
three-dimensional images and allows viewers to watch them on the monitor
screen without special glasses.
Encouraged by strong demand for the new product, Fujifilm President
Shigetaka Komori says people can "experience new images" with it.
Meanwhile, Nikon Corp. <7731> plans to introduce a camera equipped
with a small projector that shows recorded still and moving images on a wall
or ceiling. It has delayed the camera's release to October from September
due to a flood of orders from retailers, according to company officials.
In addition, Casio Computer Co. <6952> has developed a camera that
can combine still and moving images for the first time in the world. As
users can attach photos from collaborations to e-mails, the company will
promote the camera as a "communications tool."
The market for digital cameras is nearing saturation in Japan. A
government survey found that some 70 pct of all households owned at least
one as of March this year.
The Camera & Imaging Products Association forecasts that global
shipments of digital cameras will fall 0.7 pct in 2009 from the previous
year to 118.97 million units, marking the first drop since the compilation
of comparable data started in 2000.
While demand for high-end, single-lens reflex digital cameras
remains strong, sales of compact cameras, which account for some 90 pct of
total shipments, are in the doldrums.
Manufacturers used to compete on the development of products that
can take high-quality images by sharply increasing the number of pixels. But
more than 80 pct of digital cameras now have 10 million or more pixels,
while new functions to shoot sharp images, such as those that prevent
blurring from hand movements, are widely available.
As a result, digital cameras that can take clear images are now
"taken for granted," industry officials said. Manufacturers therefore are
unable to stimulate replacement demand simply by upgrading the zoom and
other existing functions.
The succession of releases of digital cameras with new functions
means that makers have begun seeking a "new axis of competition," says
Ichiro Michikoshi, an analyst at market research firm BCN Inc. "But they
have yet to find a dinger."
As the life span of popular digital cameras is extremely short and
market shares change rapidly, competition among manufactures is likely to
intensify in developing attractive new functions.