President of Canon to step down, after overall decrease in sales

Imaging Resource reports about the president of Canon stepping down, after overall sales decrease in 2011 (mainly due to sluggish sales of compact cameras).

Some people point out to smartphones being the replacement of compact cameras, as the main reasons for such decrease. I think that is only part of the problem.

Canon remains one of the two big gorillas in photography, together with Nikon. But if you look at the market of photography cameras in the last 10 years, there are clear conclusions:

- First of all, it is true that there are today many serious contenders in the world of compact cameras, both from traditional photography camera makers, but mainly from smartphones, which have been continuously eroding the low end of compact camera sales. It is widely reported that the best seller, among compact cameras today, is the iPhone. I have made some quick back-to-back comparisons between a good compact (Fuji Finepix F30) and a mid smartphone (Sony Xperia Neo V) and I was shocked to see the results.

But there are a number of additional aspects, which should be taken into account:

- Canon made the strongest debut with their low-end dSLR models at very affordable prices, getting a significant advance over competitors in the mid 2000s.

- Nikon took a while to react, but then they smashed with a series of dSLR models which received both rave reviews and unanymous acclaim of photographers, both amateurs and professionals (D300, D3, D700...).

- Canon had very serious problems with his flagship model (EOS 1-D), with a number of longstanding issues that damaged their reputation among professionals (autofocus, stains, etc). Nikon profited of these flaws to convince many top-notch photographers to switch to their flagships, the D3 and D700.

 - Last but not least, Canon is the only big player in photography who remains, as of today, without any system of mirrorless camera with interchangeable lenses. All others, including the pioneers of Olympus, Panasonic, but also later competitors, as Samsung, Sony, Ricoh, Pentax and eventually even Nikon, have joined the mirrorless market, making a bold impact and getting significant sales in some markets, as Japan and the UK.

Canon is said to be developping such a system in the last years, but fact is that there is nothing in the market, in early 2012.

All of these issues add up and have changed the image of Canon, from an almost impregnable leader in the early 2000s, to a strong but troubled player in 2012.