Futuresource: Strong Growth for Interchangeable Lens Compact Cameras

Online, July 27, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Following the release of a Futuresource industry report earlier this month on the Western European market opportunity for Interchangeable Lens Compact Cameras, James Wells, consultant with Futuresource discusses some of the key issues surrounding this market.

"Since the end of 2008 when Panasonic launched the world's first Interchangeable Lens Compact, Olympus, Samsung and Sony have introduced their own models into this segment. The market was still relatively small last year, with just 80,000 units shipped across Western Europe, compared with 3.2m DSLRs.

"Moving forward there are some factors that will limit growth for the Interchangeable Lens Compact market in the short to mid term, such as certain technological factors that influence camera performance and higher average retail prices compared to entry level DSLRs.

"Another big influence on growth will be whether Canon and Nikon - who currently dominate the wider interchangeable lens camera market - decide to launch an Interchangeable Lens Compact product. Makoto Kimura, Nikon's president, recently confirmed Nikon will launch a new type of SLR as early as this fiscal year, saying it 'may adopt the so-called mirrorless structure'. To date there has been no official word from Canon regarding its future plans for Interchangeable Lens Cameras.

"In the short-term, whilst we are expecting significant growth for the Interchangeable Lens Compact market, it will still only reach shipments of 377,000 units across Western Europe in 2010, compared to expectations of 3.3m units for DSLRs.

"Panasonic, Olympus, Sony and Samsung (with a 20% combined share of interchangeable lens camera shipments in 2009) are expected to promote this segment heavily in 2010, particularly at the Photokina show in September in the run up to the important fourth quarter period. The long term aim is to try to break Canon's and Nikon's stranglehold on the interchangeable lens camera market. Suffice to say this will be an interesting space to watch over the next two to three years."

The Futuresource report entitled The Market Opportunity for Interchangeable Lens Compacts was released in July 2010. In addition to looking at the market opportunity for Interchangeable Lens Compact Cameras, the report also assesses the impact Interchangeable Lens Compact will have on all existing camera formats and provides forecasts and market insight for Compacts, DSLRs and Interchangeable Lens Compacts through to 2014.

For more information or to purchase this report, please contact James Wells on +44 (0) 1582 500 148 or via email at [email protected].

Notes
Futuresource Consulting is a specialist research and knowledge-based consulting company, providing its clients with expertise in consumer electronics, digital imaging, entertainment media, broadcast, optical manufacturing, storage media and IT.

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