Lucas van Grinsven is reporting on Reuters that Canon plans to shift its focus (pardon the pun) to more expensive cameras, printers, and flat screen televisions.
The company hopes that pro-sumers (non-professional photographers who like a full-featured cameras) will cotton on to digital SLRs: "We predict the digital SLR market will double in size by the end of 2006."
The market for point-and-shoot digital cameras is worsening -- for the camera makers, not for the customer. The price is coming down, features are going up, and the market is get crowded with choices.
In contrast, the market for digital SLRs would seem ideal for makers like Canon: high profits, small market size (currently), and potential for growth as the price of declines.
Notes the Reuters article, "Canon saw global compact photo printer sales quadruple last year. It's another key growth market. It still looks like 20 percent of all photos are being printed. Like other printer makers, Canon keeps making money on ink cartridges after the sale of a printer -- it is how most printer makers generate profit."
As for flat-screen tvs, well, Canon is using Toshiba's technology to enter that market.
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