Olympus launches 9 cameras in bid to raise market share

In a bid to regain its lost market share in the compact camera segment, Japanese imaging major Olympus today launched a slew of cameras that will help it to capture 10 per cent of the market in the next two years, a top company official today said.

"Olympus entered India in 1990, with the analog camera business and had 15 per cent market share for compact cameras in 2007. It is now close to 3 per cent. We want to regain some of our market share in compact camera category and by FY15, we aim to capture 10 per cent market share," Olympus Imaging India Managing Director Kenichiro Mori told reporters here.

In FY12, the market size of the compact camera segment in the country was 2.7 million units and in FY15 it is estimated to be 3.5 million units, he added.

Mori said the start-end range of compact cameras were affected due to emergence of smart phones and tablet pcs and the growth in the category was slow globally, but pointed out that the compact cameras offer more features than the phones.

Olympus today launched 9 compact cameras under the brand Stylus. The new models include -- XZ-2 for Rs 31,990, XZ-10 for Rs 24,990, SH-50 for Rs 22,990, TG-2 for Rs 22,990, SZ-16 for Rs 14,990, VG-190 for Rs 8,490, VG-180 for Rs 5,990, VG-165 for Rs 5,490 and VG-150 for Rs 4,490.