ILCs
Latest
Olympus hangs $57 million loss on austerity, strong yen and declining compact camera market
Olympus is reporting a $56.7 million loss for its first quarter of 2012. While its coveted medical imaging arm remains profitable, its life-science and industrial unit suffered thanks to corporate belt-tightening. Unsurprisingly, its low-end compact camera market is shrinking, but sales of its OM-D E-M5 ILC increased by 50 percent, offsetting some of the losses and reducing operating losses from $89 million last quarter to $19 million in this one. Like many of its Japanese rivals, it's also found a strong yen has stifled its return to productivity, a trend that isn't likely to change soon.
Nikon makes $201 million quarterly profit, nearly 50 percent drop from last year, blames strong yen
Nikon's odd financial calendar means that the camera maker is announcing its first quarter results for 2013. The confusingly-dated documents show that it isn't having the best Spring / Summer, since while it pulled in a net profit of $201 million, that figure is down nearly 50 percent on the $392 million it made in the same period last year. It sold a record number of interchangeable-lens cameras, lenses and a good number of compact cameras, but that was offset against the high cost of the yen. Its other businesses, Precision Equipment and Instruments both suffered thanks to Government spending cuts, a "harsh business climate" and the now age-old problem of the high exchange rate. It's expecting the situation to remain the same in the next three months, with booming camera sales weight against losses in its other businesses -- with a projected profit of $143 million anticipated in Q3.
Samsung clarifies camera production shift, confirms commitment to point-and-shoot models
We've heard reports that Samsung has shifted focus at some of its camera manufacturing facilities away from point-and-shoot cameras with the objective of ramping up production of its compact mirrorless models. And while this move implies that the company's pocketable compacts could be doomed, that's simply not the case. We spoke with Reid Sullivan, Samsung's Senior Vice President of Mobile Entertainment, who reinforced the company's continuing commitment to developing and manufacturing point-and-shoot models -- in short, pocketable cameras remain a focus for the company, which simply made manufacturing adjustments to accommodate an anticipated increase in demand for recently-launched NX20, NX210 and NX1000. Point-and-shoots, for better or worse, are here to stay, and Sullivan explained that while we're unlikely to see new sub-$100 cameras make their debut, there's plenty in the works on the SMART front, with new launches in store for upcoming events like Photokina and CES. Whether there will continue to be demand for point-and-shoots remains to be seen, and while consumers are clearly turning to smartphones for casual shooting, Samsung appears to be in no hurry to abandon the point-and-shoot form-factor.
Does Samsung's point-and-shoot departure mark an industry-wide shift to mobile?
Samsung shuns point-and-shoot cameras, switches factory to pricier mirrorless types Samsung Galaxy S III focuses on photography sharing features, not cutting-edge optics Samsung considering Android-based digital camera Samsung's CES camera lineup had a single focus across the range: wireless connectivity. The company's flagship point-and-shoot, the 14-megapixel WB150F, boasts built-in WiFi at the very top of its feature shortlist. In fact, until you make your way to the third (and only) capture-related detail (an 18x optical zoom lens), you'd be hard-pressed to distinguish the dedicated device from some of Samsung's other camera-equipped offerings. With its latest generation of "Smart Cameras," the company moved to further bridge the gap between its gamut of portable devices, by bringing key smartphone features to its digital imaging line. As it turns out, the move was simply a crutch -- an opportunity to refresh models with technologies in which the company has already made significant investments. And it appears to have resulted in only a slight delay of the inevitable. We now know what to expect for Samsung's point-and-shoots -- pocketable models will step aside to make room for NX-series interchangeable lens cameras, and compact fans will continue to turn to Galaxy all-on-ones for their on-the-go shooting needs. Join us past the break for a closer look at how the move could impact the industry, and what the future may hold for the (formerly) beloved point-and-shoot.
