Without knowing the situation in more detail it's probably impossible for a mere blogger in the hinterlands to say definitiely that this news is a result of the tsunami and earthquake in Japan, but there have been various announcements in the past month regarding companies with a stake in the camera market.
Mayumi Negishi at Reuters is reporting that Ricoh, which makes offbeat point-and-shoot cameras beloved of enthusiasts (including the popular GRDIII and the very offbeat modular GXR system, which features interchangeable lens/sensor units on the same body) will cut 10,000 jobs and "unprofitable products." The article, however, implies that this is overdue cost-cutting that comes in response to the natural disaster but was not caused by it—and that the news caused a bounce in Ricoh's stock price.
Meanwhile, a month ago now, according to Businesswire, Panasonic—makers of the mirrorless GF2 and the new G3 that's coming in June (not to mention my favorite lens for digital)—announced that it will cut 17,000 jobs and close as many as 70 factories. President Fumio Ohtsubo's comments at a business policy meeting were summarized thusly: "While operations at Panasonic factories in the disaster-hit region have been recovering steadily, disruptions in its supply chain are still affecting the group’s operations." However, Panasonic "is determined to play a significant role in the country’s reconstruction efforts with its products and business activities."
Finally, Olympus, whose new President and COO, Michael Woodford, is British, will cut jobs to address "what he said was an unacceptable slump in earnings," according to Business Times. But not in Japan. (Translation: the jobs that will get the axe are mainly in China.) Olympus makes the sleek E-PL2.
Of course, all three of these conglomerates have business interests far beyond cameras. Without greater familiarity with the situations of each, it's impossible to do more than guess at the ramifications these moves will have on the respective companies' photographic product lines—if any.
Mike
(Thanks to Editor-at-Large Vlatko Juric-Kokic)
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Original contents copyright 2011 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.
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One addition: Olympus has two imaging/camera factories in China. One in Guangzhou, and one in Shenzhen. The latter one is certainly a camera factory, but I don't know about Guangzhou. Plus numerous other offices both in China and abroad.
Posted by: erlik | Thursday, 26 May 2011 at 04:40 PM
I could see Olympus pulling out of the camera business or merging with someone larger. They never seem to be able to generate the excitement necessary for a runaway best selling product.
I'm not sure I'd call my E-pl2 sleek but it is well sorted and feels good in hand. It's a pleasure to use with the Panasonic 20mm 1.7 or OM legacy 50mm for portraits.
Posted by: Ken White | Thursday, 26 May 2011 at 09:22 PM
"I could see Olympus pulling out of the camera business or merging with someone larger."
Panasonic, like Minolta and Sony. Or Pentax and Hoya.
Posted by: misha | Friday, 27 May 2011 at 09:55 AM
Given my love of Olympus cameras, I hope they don't become a glorious dead end--like Minolta did (the brand I cut my teeth on...)
Posted by: Paul Luscher | Friday, 27 May 2011 at 12:28 PM