Japan’s Canon Inc. and Nikon Corp. both managed to significantly increase their share of the U.S. digital still camera market in 2006 while Eastman Kodak Co. dropped from first to third place, according to estimates from IDC.
Canon shipped 6.1 million cameras in the U.S. in 2006, up more than a million units of 2005, according to the data. That gave Canon a 20 percent market share and was enough to propel the camera maker from second to the top spot in the IDC ranking. Sony Corp. managed only a modest 3 percent rise in shipments but moved into second place while Eastman Kodak, which was top in 2005, suffered a 31 percent drop in shipments and fell to third place in the 2006 chart, said IDC.
Nikon delivered a strong performance and saw shipments increase 30 percent to 3 million units and remained in fourth place.
Among other vendors Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic) saw shipments almost triple to 1 million units and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. more than doubled shipments to 1.5 million, said IDC.
The strong gains by Canon and Nikon came as the vendors introduced low-cost digital single lens reflex cameras (DSLR).
Single-lens reflex cameras use a mirror placed between the lens and the film or image sensor to project the image to the camera’s viewfinder. The mirror moves out of the way when the picture is taken. They typically support interchangeable lenses and are preferred by professional and serious amateur photographers over the compact point-and-shoot models that dominate the digital camera market.
The market had been dominated by Canon and Nikon for many years but high prices kept the cameras out of the hands of all but professionals and the most dedicated amateurs. However strong competition in the point-and-shoot end of the market led camera makers to start developing low-cost DSLR models. Sony and Panasonic both joined the market with their own models this year and Canon and Nikon responded by introducing their own low-end models.
Overall the U.S. market grew by 5 percent in 2006, which is lower than the 21 percent growth recorded in 2005 and below IDC’s previous estimate of 8 percent growth for the year. Only about 15 percent of new cameras were sold to people who didn’t own a digital still camera with the remainder being replacement or supplemental models, said IDC. Looking ahead the market research company said it expects shipments will be flat this year and then decline from 2008.
(IDC is owned by International Data Group Inc., which also owns IDG News Service.)
Top-ten camera makers in 2006 by U.S. market share
2005 shipments 2005 share 2006 shipments 2006 share 2006 on 2005 change
Canon 5,000,000 18% 6,068,500 20% up 21%
Sony 4,780,000 17% 4,940,800 17% up 3%
Kodak 7,050,000 25% 4,867,000 16% down 31%
Nikon 2,326,400 8% 3,045,700 10% up 31%
HP 2,130,600 8% 2,185,100 7% up 3%
Olympus 1,964,800 7% 1,856,500 6% down 5%
Samsung 680,500 2% 1,496,400 5% up 120%
Fujifilm 1,780,600 6% 1,444,700 5% down 19%
Panasonic 350,000 1% 1,046,300 3% up 199%
Casio 405,000 1% 955,000 3% up 136%
Source: IDC
