June 21, 2006 – Canon, Inc. anticipates a 46 percent increase in the company's camera division due to recent sales of Canon's new camera models, according to yesterday’s Reuters report. The news service spoke with Tomonori Iwashita, the chief executive of image communication products operations. Canon says camera sales will surpass previous estimates due to recent digital camera sales, particularly the Canon EOS 30D digital SLR released in March.
"Our new spring products are selling very well,” Iwashita said in the Reuters interview. “It goes without saying that profit is bigger on new products than on old ones.”
Canon has made $783.7 million this year alone, with two more quarters in the fiscal year to go. The company is already ranked number one in the digital camera market, according to Reuters. Canon estimates that it will sell 19.2 million digital cameras in 2006, 2.2 million of them being digital SLRs. Last year, Canon sold 16.9 million digital camera units.
Even with new competition from Panasonic's first DSLR, the Lumix DMC-L1, released today and Sony's soon-to-be released A100 in July, Canon's Iwashita says the company will not reduce their DSLR prices.
The Canon EOS 30D retails at $1,399, whereas the Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1 costs $1,999 and the Sony A100 camera body is suggested to be priced at $899.
