Friday, August 24, 2012

No. 597: Android-based digital camera from Nikon to compete with smartphones (August 24, 2012)

Business trend:
To compete with smartphones spreading explosively, Nikon will launch a new compact digital camera that incorporates Android as its operating system coming autumn. The new Android-based digital camera will be a new product on Nikon’s Coolpix series. It can process images with the help of a supporting application and upload them on the Internet as a smartphone does, and send images to SNS directly. Nikon will be Japan’s first camera maker that employs Android as the operating system of its digital cameras.

In the initial stage, the company will incorporate Android only into upmarket models. Samsung Electronics of Korea is reportedly developing an Android-based digital camera. The price of a digital camera shows a declining trend because smartphones are spreading quite rapidly. In addition, because the product cycle is rather short, volume retailers need to reduce the sales prices of digital cameras by about 30% in half a year after the introduction. According to Camera and Imaging Products Association (CIPA), the world shipments of compact digital cameras are supposed to decrease 0.8% from the previous year to 99 million units in 2012. 



Nikon incorporates Android into its Coolpix digital camera series to compete with smartphones as the first Japanese camera maker. The new model will be put on the market this autumn. Because of the explosive spread of smartphones, volume retailers need to discount digital cameras by 30% in half a year after the introduction.  

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