Since I have no interesting rumors to report, I decided to share one of the emails I received recently - there is no way to confirm if this is all true: I was told that Nikon is already working on their 2012-2016 product line. The technology is already here and new product are fully developed and ready to be released - the actual announcement schedule is decided by the marketing department. Nikon usually is sending early samples to photographers to test 1 or 2 years before launching the product on the market (of course, under NDA). It seems also that Nikon and Canon agree on some product releases as well (timing, features, etc) - I have read this before, but could not find any references online.
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Nikon makes about 9% profit off it’s Imagining Products group – this seems about right.
As best as I can tell, Nikon’s 5,000 (or so) employees in Tokyo make about US$100,000 per year. About 10 years ago, the average wage in Tokyo was US$50,000. I doubt they’ve had much inflation and assume the work requires above average skill so this also seams reasonable.
Canon doesn’t break out it’s camera division so cleanly, but it is making between 5-7% overall profit – again this seams reasonable.
For those of you wondering about Canon’s lead in video on DSLRs – they do sell a lot of video cameras so they probably have a bit more expertise there.
Despite the claims that Nikon and Canon are in the business of selling lenses, the revenue for bodies is double that of lenses. Even if the lenses are more profitable, it’s hard to believe that they don’t care just as much about the bodies.
None of this adds up to anything suspicious or illegal. It looks like normal competition where both of the major companies have a very good idea of what the other is up to.
Any company with great new stuff just will surely want to get it out right away to maximise their ROI.
stupid post
I like pie.
Nikon is useless. Sooo Slow and so crappy cameras they recently released. D300s is rubbish. D700 as well. Coolpix series. gosh. Oh well. Canon is not better.
The only thing you can do about it is to vote with your wallet. Buy your camera from a non Japanese company. (Not that easy) But its likely that they have some cartel, and my guess is that others might be there too.
Well, usualy marketing dictates it, controller bean counters reduce it and engineering postpones it…
this is not too far fetched, however the text of the numbers “400″ are not on the same plane as the “D” it looks like its lifting a little.
Sony