Still good growth in digital cameras: Canon

Sales growth in the digital still camera (DSC) market will continue even though the market has “slowed” as it reaches maturity, according to Canon’s senior category manager Darren Ryan.

“It’s a mature market but were now seeing first generation digital camera buyers become second and even third generation buyers now,” he said. “Families will often have two or more digital cameras now,” Ryan said.

Canon captured a 27.9 percent share of DSC sales (by units) in September, up 6.5 percent on the same month a year earlier, according to figures from Informark.

The vendor shipped a massive 23,000 units of its mid-range IXUS 60 and IXUS 65 DSC products in October, Ryan said.

Although the digital camera segment was a slowing category, new technologies such as the vendor’s ‘face detect’, which helps focus shots on peoples’ faces, would continue to keep consumers interested in the category, he said.

Canon is also talking up its work in the displays category with its investment in high definition (HD) format surface conduction electron-emitter displays (SED), a high-definition CRT technology.

The vendor expects to begin production in Japan in late 2007 on the rival format to OLED and Plasma displays.

The format offers “truer blacks” according to national PR manager Andrew Giles and a contrast ratio of 50,000:1 and will be initially available in a 55 inch format.

Despite the relatively low penetration of HD TVs - estimated by Canon at about 20 percent locally – the market was expected to climb towards 50 percent penetration by the end of 2007, Ryan said.