Canon's new digicams on a roll in India

NEW DELHI: Citing the year 2004 as the 'Year of the Camera' for Canon, the company has launched 11 new digital cameras for the Indian market. This is being done as part of its overall strategy to penetrate deep into the Indian consumer segment.

Targeting both the consumer and the professional user, newly launched products include seven digital cameras, three video DV camcorders and one SLR wide-angle zoom lens. "Camera, imaging and innovative lens technology is at the heart of Canon's creativity. We are targeting to capture close to 30 percent of the digicam share in the Indian market," said Canon India Alan Grant president and CEO.






Speaking about the digital versus analog camera, Grant said that India and Thailand are the only two countries where analog cameras enjoy a greater share and penetration in the market when compared to digital cameras.


"This is the reason why India is so important to us. Last year, around one lakh digicams were sold over here while this figure was more than three million in China. We expect this gap to narrow down and soon digital cameras will overtake the analog ones vehemently. We want to ride on this growth for India," he added.





The products that were launched by the company include PowerShot A400, A85, A95, S70, G6, EOS 20D, EOS 300D Black and wide angle zoom lens. These products are priced between Rs 12,995 to Rs 1,27,995 for the Indian market.





"Today, the Indian digicam market is pegged at around Rs 100 crore and as the digital camera share increases this is likely to increase upto Rs 600 crore by the end of year 2007. We want to capture at least 30 percent of this market by that time," explained Canon India consumer imaging and information division (CIID) and volume products director and GM, Alok Bharadwaj.