Olympus, Matsushita to develop state-of-the-art SLR digital camera17 January 2005
Olympus Corp and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd announced plans to jointly develop a new start-of-the-art single lense reflex (SLR) digital camera.
It will be the first SLR digital camera ever developed by Osaka-based Matsushita, the world's largest consumer electronics manufacturer by sales. Olympus is already a leading global maker of digital cameras, including several SLR models.
In a joint statement, Olympus and Matsushita said they expect global demand for SLR digital cameras to double to 5.5 mln units in the year to March 2007, from an estimated 2.7 mln in the current year to March 2005.
The companies said they expect to complete development of the new SLR digital camera technology by the spring of 2006, and said they will separately market products based on the technology.
'Matsushita hopes that with this alliance, Matsushita will be regarded by consumers as a serious digital camera maker,' said Fumio Ohtsubo, the president of the consumer electronic giant's audio-visual division.
Matsushita said it aims to grab 10 pct of the global digital camera market by calendar 2006.
'I strongly believe strong synergy between the two companies' technologies will be generated through this alliance, because the areas of strength differ significantly,' said Hiroshi Komiya, president of Olympus Imaging Corp, a digital camera subsidiary.
Komiya declined to elaborate on those differing strengths when asked to do so by reporters.
Olympus is promoting a digital camera technology called four-thirds, featuring an image sensor making it possible to develop high-quality compact lenses. It aims to propogate the technology through the new SLR digital camera alliance with Matsushita, the company said.
Source: AFP via Yahoo
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