How Camera Makers Hedge the Downturn — Nikon, Unfazed, Counts on India and Brazil

While the big two are asleep, Sony is about to corner the market. Well, to be correct, Nikon is half asleep. They have a strategy to stay relevant; a strategy thats’ rather looking backward than forward. The winning formula? Just supply more of the same to new people.

With more than two thirds of its revenue coming from cameras and its new ventures years from bearing fruit, Nikon isn’t worried. Quotes from a telling Reuters report — what’s it called again? Right, “resting on one’s laurels”…:

    Nikon, world's number two camera maker, moves its focus to the developing world where DSLR "penetration is still very low." | The Age
    Nikon, world’s number two camera maker, moves its focus to the developing world where DSLR “penetration is still very low.” | The Age

  • Nikon: Nikon is counting on consumers in markets like Brazil and India to drive sales of its single lens reflex cameras (SLRs) in the mid-term and has no immediate plans to follow its rivals into other sectors. “Penetration in emerging markets is still very low,” says Nikon president Makoto Kimura. “Look at Brazil where we sell around eight million cameras overall. Only some tens of thousands of those are SLRs. That’s why I don’t think that sales will drop that much… When people realize the value of an SLR I think we will naturally see growth.”
  • Canon: Canon is hedging against further downturns in the consumer market with a push into surveillance cameras.
  • Olympus: Olympus already relies on medical equipment for most of its profit.

Chris Chute, research director of digital imaging at IDC, has a recommendation for the industry:

It may be time for camera makers to have a larger conversation about the brand and the technology and where company executives plan to take that.

Closing with Kimura’s quote of the day:

A surprisingly number of people don’t realize how different the quality between smartphone and proper camera photos are… and that’s our fault.

But unworried Kimura has obviously nothing to worry about. Never mind that his company’s share price has skidded 40% since late May. Nikon’s other share, the share of the high-end market, has kept its imaging unit in the black, for now, unlike that of Olympus and Panasonic.

(via Reuters)