Three of Japan's largest digital camera makers reported drops in thrid-quarter profits in the past couple of days.
Sanyo Electric, the world's biggest digital camera manufacturer, had a net loss of $170 million in the last three months of 2004. Olympus, the third largest digital camera seller, saw net income drop by two-thirds. Fuji Photo's profit dropped one-third.
Japanese companies produce 80% of all digital cameras. Prices dropped by 15% last year, and are expected to drop another 10% this year. Analysts don't predict the industry's outlook to improve until manufacturers market devices with enough new features to prompt consumers to trade up. In Japan, the market penetration is extremely high, so new customers are very hard to attract.
