In an interview with Imaging Resource (and others) Sony executives publicly says they're after the #2 spot for ILC sales. Canon being the #1 and will likely remain there for the foreseeable future. However, this blogger thinks they need to take a few more risks in the coming years to reverse the perception that there's no innovation in camera bodies going on at Canon.
While Canon appears to be committed to shareholder profits, Sony is taking a different approach for the moment to gain marketshare.
“Please look at our vision, not where our profits come from.” said Mr. Tanaka
Sony can afford to do this for the time being, though one day you do need to turn a profit of some kind.
Sony also feels the path to growth is not just by taking marketshare from others, but increasing the size of the overall market, which is obviously a big challenge in the current marketplace.
A point made by several of the executives — and underscored by no less than Mr. Hiroshi Sakamoto — was that, as one of the true leaders* in the camera market, Sony has to grow by growing the overall market, not just by poaching market share from other players.
Sony also remains committed to APS-C sensor products. While their full frame cameras seem to bring about the most discussion online, their APS-C line of cameras remains important to their overall strategy.
Tanaka-san was very emphatic. Paraphrasing slightly, he said “APS-C is an important category for us. We'll never quit APS-C!”
Imaging resource also reports than Sony thinks it can achieve a 50% marketshare in the coming years, which would put them in Canon territory.
We should be hearing more about Sony and how they plan to take over the camera world in the coming weeks from other web sites who had the chance to visit with Sony in Japan.