Official announcements in japantoday

[dirk]

FYI

this short text was published today in "Japantoday":

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Kyocera to quit digital camera business


Thursday, March 10, 2005 at 07:20 JST
TOKYO — Kyocera Corp will pull out of the digital camera business, ending manufacturing by this summer, and sales by the end of this year, company officials said Thursday.

The officials cited deteriorating profitability amid fierce price competition. Kyocera will also stop domestic production and sales of film cameras. The company will, however, continue maintenance and repairs on its products for 10 years, the officials said. (Kyodo News)


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This is the link:

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=4&id=330318

 

[dirk]

And this is the information of Reuters of tonight:

TOKYO (Reuters) - Electronics parts maker Kyocera Corp. (6971.OS: Quote, Profile, Research) (6971.T: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday it will pull out of digital cameras, becoming the first Japanese manufacturer to quit a market in which prices have tumbled due to intense competition.
Kyocera, which has less than 3 percent market share in Japan, will end production of existing models this summer and not develop new ones.

"We will be focusing instead on expanding our camera modules business for mobile phones," said a spokesman for Kyocera. The company does not plan to make a formal announcement.

Last month, Kyocera booked a fall in third-quarter net profit and slashed its outlook for the year to March by 31 percent to 59 billion yen ($567.4 million), hit hard by slumping sales of digital cameras and cellphones.

Its digital camera division is expected to report sales of about 35.5 billion yen for this business year.

Kyocera sells digital cameras under the "KYOCERA" and "CONTAX" brands.

Shares of Kyocera fell 0.4 percent to 8,020 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in early morning trading.

($1=103.98 yen)

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7859674

 

[jsmisc]

Thanks for the information Dirk,
The confirmation is very disappointing and sad. I see that they are not going to make an official announcement.
I shall certainly keep and use my beloved C/Y gear and probably buy more of this now collector's gear; end of an era. BUT to be positive, I think the brand name is likely to be bought and revived and rejuvenated a la
Voigtlander
Best wishes,
John

 

[roberto1]

> [Very very sad news. At least I expect my Aria, RXII bought last year to continue to be serviced for that time. My manual S2 will be no problem, even though is being sent for a CLA due to stiff speed selector. Hope to find a Contax'ed Nikon FM3a or kinda Contax'ed Voigtländer in the near future, or even a Contax made by Cosina, but mechanical, please. Best regards, Robert] >