On May 7, Olympus officially announced that it would stop operating the production plant in Shenzhen, China, and transfer the production of camera products from China to Vietnam.
The news came out. At one time, people in the industry were not optimistic about the development prospects of Aoba. Six months ago, similar incidents had precedents. At the end of October last year, another camera manufacturer Nikon issued a statement stating that Nikon It will close Nikon Optical Instruments (China) Co., Ltd., located in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China, and stop producing and manufacturing compact digital cameras, and concentrate on producing high-value-added camera products such as SLRs.
Two hundred-year enterprises that are representative in the traditional imaging industry have made the choice of shutting down Chinese factories under the impact of the commercial wave and the actual capital operation. This scenario has caused people to think and worry .
Although shutting down the plant is only a normal phenomenon of the company's industrial restructuring, it needs to be acknowledged that it is precisely due to the consideration of factors such as commercial costs and shrinking market that the production factories of these traditional camera manufacturers have chosen to move out in Southeast Asia. Areas with lower labor costs continue to operate.
Industry Status: The trend is down, not optimistic
Faced with continuous breakthroughs in smart phones in the field of cameras, and the erode of digital cameras in the consumer sector, these camera makers appear to be powerless to reverse this predicament.
According to the first quarter financial report released by major camera manufacturers in May, the total sales of consumer cameras continued to decline due to the continuous shrinkage of the market.
Although Canon and Nikon’s two major industry giants have achieved significant growth in the first quarter of this year, they still cannot change the trend of continuous decline of the entire imaging industry. For Olympus, the company’s revenue from all camera products Compared with the same period last year, operating profit dropped by 5 billion yen.
In addition, for Panasonic, Ricoh, and other companies, although the specific performance data of their digital camera business was not disclosed, according to the trend analysis of previous years, the performance is equally not optimistic.
Difficulties and Crux: Difficulties in internal and external affairs, lack of ability
As stated before, if we want to discuss how consumer cameras have been languishing in recent years, they are largely inseparable from the rise and breakthrough of smart phones.
Today, the functional experience of smart phones has been quite comprehensive. In the use of everyday life, mobile phones have actually replaced many of the hardware products we used before. From practical calculators, alarm clocks and tape recorders, to focusing Entertainment experience game consoles, mp3s and TVs, we can all be satisfied by a mobile phone.
As the mobile phone continues to make progress in camera photographing, the digital camera is also being replaced by the mobile phone step by step. The reduction in the cost of photographing and the improvement in the picture quality are all inevitable results of the development of smart phones. However, the development of mobile phones is, after all, Still an objective phenomenon, the traditional imaging industry also has its own hard-to-follow crux.
Due to the complex production process of digital cameras, the product update cycle of a consumer camera usually takes one to two years, while the high-end digital camera requires more than three or four years. Such a long product iteration cycle makes the camera Does not have the same high consumption and consumer demand as mobile phones.
In addition, the production and research and development of digital cameras are quite mature. The photosensitive elements, anti-shake technology, lens technology and even the focusing accuracy have reached an unprecedented level of manufacturing, making the industry already face a bottleneck period in which to break through. The renewal of the product is not as good as before. This is also the problem that many camera manufacturers face the rapid rise of smart phones at the current stage, but they feel the lack of growth.
Change and breakthrough: Segment products, expand business
Faced with difficult-to-reverse market trends and industry status, if camera manufacturers do not actively innovate and change, it is feared that the outcomes of veteran big coffees such as Nokia and Kodak will be staged once again. Their old days have never shined brilliantly, but this The two protagonists who once each played an important role in the industry, insisted on adopting a conservative and steadfast strategy. Eventually they could not escape the bad luck of bankruptcy.
It should be said that Olympus and Nikon shut down the Chinese factory. It is also an inevitable choice to see the market trend of continuous sluggishness. With the declining reality of card digital cameras, these camera manufacturers have only to High value-added product development and production, in order to maintain the company's core competitiveness.
In recent years, with the development of miniaturization and lightweight concepts for consumer cameras, the appearance of micro-single, a new form of camera, has changed the product design thinking of traditional video manufacturers.
Compared with SLRs, micro-singles are designed with more outstanding appearance and are more in line with the current fashion and beautiful consumer demands. They are increasingly favored by consumers. For many manufacturers, they are also close to consumer groups and reshape their brand image. Opportunity, and in order to face the competition of smart phone products.
At the same time, some traditional camera manufacturers such as Canon and Fujitsu also have a tendency to subdivide their product lines. In recent years, Canon has made efforts to launch micro-single market and launch micro-single products with different levels of positioning. The low-end entry-level micro-single product line can all see its attempt to differentiate competition and break down the positioning population as a breakthrough in performance growth.
With regard to the fact that the economy is currently weak and market performance continues to decline, these camera manufacturers also understand that relying solely on camera business support is not enough to maintain the sound development of the enterprise. In other business areas, there is also a need to get involved and build.
Taking Canon, the oldest consumer camera company in the field, as an example, its acquisition of Toshiba Medical, Axis Security Camera Systems, and layout of the commercial printing market all reflect that Canon is looking for new growth points. In addition to Canon, Nikon and Austria Camera manufacturers such as Linbas also make breakthroughs in other areas such as microscopic imaging instruments and medical care.
Conclusion: This is the best time and the worst time
As Dickens said in describing the world after the Industrial Revolution, 'this is the best time and the worst time.' The progress of mobile phones has changed many aspects of our lives; the progress of mobile phones is also rewriting The fate of many industries.
We are in this era of universal photography. In daily life, people no longer need to purchase a digital camera for shooting. You just need to use a mobile phone to record things in front of you.
Of course, this does not mean that the camera will be completely replaced by the mobile phone. When we hope to improve the beauty around us with better quality and perspective, we naturally feel the urge to hold the camera when the shutter button is pressed. , And this kind of operating experience can't be replaced by any smart phone.
For ordinary people like you and me, enjoying the convenience experience brought by technological advancement is the best expression of a better life. For traditional video manufacturers, they also need to accurately grasp the lifeblood of enterprise development. Find a breakthrough on the road to the parallel between dilemma and change, to take every step of the next step.
Although it is easy to change, it is not easy to survive. It is also hoped that these traditional image makers will act and treasure.
