By Kim Tong-hyung
HONG KONG _ It’s in the technology industry’s DNA to push out waves of new companies and products through the gate while the old ones get washed up on the shore.
However, cameras have been a rare area where tradition matters, with established Japanese brands like Canon and Nikon continuing to devour younger rivals with relative ease.
Perhaps, it would be misleading to describe Korea’s Samsung Electronics as ``young’’ when it actually has been producing cameras since the early 1980s. But despite the significant amount of time and money spent to gain an edge on the Japanese frontrunners, even Samsung executives admit that the company had been underachieving in the camera business.
The emphasis, however, is on the ``had.’’ As consumer habits evolve rapidly and dramatically in an era defined by the iPhone and Facebook, Samsung sees itself obtaining a distinctive edge over its specialist rivals in developing a new generation of smart and easy digital cameras with network connectivity.
Samsung’s dual strength in parts and finished products will be key _ the company is the world’s leading manufacturer of computer memory chips, liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and flat-screen televisions and trails just Nokia as the No.2 mobile-phone maker.
Park Sang-jin, the president of Samsung’s digital imaging business, said Samsung cameras will continue to reflect the company’s prowess in consumer electronics and mobile devices, not to mention its immense financial power as well as research and development (R&D) muscle.
The camera business is crucial for Samsung, which aims to earn a stronger reputation in optical technology and imaging to solidify its presence in new business areas such as medical devices. Perhaps, a role model could be Olympus, another Japanese camera heavyweight that throws massive weight in the market for medical equipment such as scopes.
``In the past competition among analog cameras, advancement was achieved step by step. In digital cameras, however, progress is made through disruption, based on a company’s ability to read the market and produce a sweeping trend, and we are confident that we will become that type of a player,’’ Park said in a meeting with Korean journalists here, hours after the company’s launch event for the NX100, its new mirror-less, interchangeable lens camera.
``Cameras have become more than just photo machines, but the ultimate tool of creativeness. Users today don’t take pictures to stick them in photo albums, but to post them on their social networking sites and other Internet destinations. And the cloud computing era will likely change the way photos are stored.
``Another important factor is that users are using an increasing number of devices for displaying and viewing their photos, such as computer monitors, televisions and mobile phones. Providing smooth connectivity between these devices would be crucial, and this is an area where we could be immediately better than companies like Canon and Nikon.’’
Park admitted that Samsung still has areas of improvement in terms of technology, but stressed that the gap with its Japanese competitors is much closer than what outsiders would think. Unlike other brands, whose cameras may be fitted with parts from different manufacturers, Samsung chooses to produce its own key components for its cameras, including image sensors, display screens, image processors and batteries, which Park says ensures better quality control.
Although Park spoke glowingly about his company’s intellectual property, he also stressed the importance of avoiding pointless technologies. Japanese companies ― in cameras as well as other electronics products ― often overwhelm consumers with dizzying specifications that would only interest the geekiest of tech geeks, according to Park, and this had led to their demise in some markets.
Samsung will rather focus on developing approachable cameras that deliver new values in terms of user experience. The most successful example has been the ``dual-view’’ cameras, point-and-shoot models that have displays screens both on the back and front, that provide Samsung’s first true megahit in the global camera market.
Since their debut last year, Samsung sold nearly 4 million dual-view cameras, such as the ST500 and ST600. The number is expected to reach 5 million by the end of the year, as the products continue to get the love from social media enthusiasts, who take as many photos of themselves as they do others and landscape.
Although the dual-view cameras announced Samsung’s arrival as a major player in compact cameras, the company is hoping that the NX100 will be the model that firmly establishes it as a serious cameras maker in line with the Canon, Nikon and Sony trio.
The NX100 aims to exploit the lucrative market for mirror-less cameras, designed significantly smaller and cheaper than digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) models but provide a comparable quality in pictures. They are considered a disruptive force in the camera market, with some industry experts wondering whether they will eventually reduce the DSLR as a niche product for professionals only.
The NX100 is the third in the series of Samsung’s mirror-less cameras, following the NX10 and NX5 that was announced earlier this year, and provides improved image control and picture quality as well as video capabilities over its predecessors.
The NX100 is Samsung’s latest attempt to attack the market for interchangeable lens cameras, which are dictated by the Canon-Nikon duopoly. The market for mirror-less cameras will reach 1.5 million this year but grow to around 4.5 million in 2011 and first exceed the DSLR market around 2013 when about 9.3 million of them will be sold, according to Samsung’s estimates.
Park said Samsung’s eventual goal is to achieve about a 25 percent market share in mirror-less cameras, which will be enough to establish itself as the market’s leader. However, the company doesn’t have immediate plans to announce a DSLR product.
``We are enjoying an increasing presence in the global market for compact cameras. Based on the figures of GfK, our share in the segment was 11.6 percent at the end of last year and now at around 13.4 percent, but we expect to finish around 14.5 percent this year,’’ Park said.
``But we have no intentions of missing out on the premium market of interchangeable lens cameras. Canon and Nikon own about 70 percent of this market, and Sony and Panasonic controls less than 8 percent of it. Mirror-less cameras could be the breakthrough, and to throw weight as a market leader, we would need a market share of at least 20 to 25 percent.
``The strength of interchangeable lens cameras is that the glass sells the bodies, evidenced by Canon and Nikon solidifying their dominance with more than 70 million of their lenses being sold. Relatively, the number of lenses a camera maker sells for an interchangeable model is 1.4 times larger than the number of bodies sold. When we are able to sell 2 to 2.5 million products in a market of 10 million units, we will be able to establish significant customer loyalty,’’ he said.
Park also said that the company may produce a camera capable of taking three-dimensional (3D) images sometime next year, but admitted that it will be a digital guinea pig, saying that the ``real’’ 3D cameras that are suited for conventional use won’t probably be available until after 2012.
``As the issue with 3D televisions is providing a glass-free viewer experience, 3D cameras has a similar challenge for achieving a one-lens, one-imaging sensor approach. The two-lens, two-sensor 3D camera released by Fuji is still too expensive and inconvenient for users,’’ Park said.