Kodak, Canon increase digicam market share
By
Mike Tomkins
(Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - 17:07 EDT)
A news item from financial website Bloomberg.com reports that Eastman Kodak Co. and Canon Inc. have increased their share of the US market at the expense of rival (and past leader) Sony Corp.
According to the article, which is based on a report from market research company IDC's Chris Chute, all three companies saw a significant drop in market growth from year-ago levels. Kodak overtook Sony as the number one player in the US digicam market in Q4 2004, and held 22.1% of the market in the first half of 2005. Canon Inc. has now also overtaken Sony, IDC states, with a 20.6% first-half market share (up from 14.7% a year ago), while Sony's share fell to 18.3%. Olympus rounded out the top four with an 8.7% market share. Total US shipments rose from 8.1 million units in the first half of 2004 to 9.7 million in the first half of this year.
Kodak seems to be enjoying a great level of success with its strategy of selling printer docks designed to work with its digital cameras, as well. According to IDC, an impressive one in four digital cameras sold by Kodak in Q2 2005 was bundled with a printer dock. More details can be found in the Bloomberg article.
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