Nikon working on secret product “that will change the concept of cameras”

 

 

Nikon president Makoto Kimura spent his Fourth of July dishing out tantalizing tidbits on what new imaging products the company is working on in an interview with Bloomberg.com. For starters, Kimura acknowledged that the venerable Japanese camera company was feeling increased competition from smartphone cameras, noting that 750 million of the devices sold in the last year, a number expected to grow next year.

“We’ve centralized our ideas around cameras but can change our approach to offer products to that bigger market," Kimura told Bloomberg.

Then, after noting that the compact camera market was projected to shrink by 12 percent in the current fiscal year, Kimura dropped a bombshell about a product Nikon is planning to introduce within the next five years.

"We want to create a product that will change the concept of cameras,” Kimura said. “It could be a non-camera consumer product.”

Kimura would not say whether the top secret product was a mobile phone, according to Bloomberg. We reached out to Nikon USA for clarification of Kimura's comments about the new product but are still awaiting an official statement.

Read the full interview with President Kimura at Bloomberg.