According to the latest Reuters News, Nikon, which mainly competes with Canon Inc., is riding on the success of models such as the D80, that are geared for consumers who want to take photos like professionals, which also have fatter profit margins than simpler compact devices. Nikon aims for a double-digit rise in shipments for digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras with interchangeable lenses in 2007/8 from a year earlier, Makoto Kimura said in an interview. Kimura also said Nikon may beat its 2.05 million shipment targets for DSLR cameras for the business year ending this month.
Strong DSLR sales have also have spurred demand for interchangeable lenses, prompting Nikon to boost lens production from April in Thailand, Kimura told Reuters. The Thai factory, which used to make film cameras, is now the main manufacturing base for DSLRs and lenses with 15,000 staff. That compares with 3,000 employees a few years ago, Kimura said.
Shipments of lenses, which are more profitable than camera bodies, in the year ending this month is expected to beat the target of 2.3 million units by more than 10 percent, Kimura said.
Nikon earns about 45 percent of its group operating profit from cameras and lenses, and is also the world’s second-biggest maker of steppers, complex machines used in chip-making.
Website : Nikon Expects Double-Digit Shipment Increase for DSLR
