14 DAY TRIAL // In a recent interview, Olympus President Sasa Hiroyuki talks about the collaboration with Nippon giant Sony, who became top shareholder for Olympus, with 11% stake, after investing 50 billion yen ($640 million).
As stated in Mainichi JP, Olympus and Sony are working together to ensure a “one-step” integration of the distribution network as well as joint procurement of parts to reduce future costs.
As previously reported, Olympus announced that they had already reduced their compact camera inventory by 40%, due to the 26.5% decline of compact camera sales, while the Micro Four Thirds mirrorless segment sales dropped only 3%.
The conclusion was made on their latest financial results for the second quarter of the fiscal year ending March 2014. Sasa also added that in order to stay in line with the latest market trends, the company could further reduce development and production for their low-end compact camera segment.
On the other hand, the company plans to further expand the OM-D mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera series for the second half of the fiscal year. Sasa declared that Olympus is expecting an increase in their mirrorless camera sales number from 75,000 - 80,000 to 90,000 - 140,000 units.
Coming to support that, recent rumors say that Olympus is about to announce a new entry-level OM-D mirrorless camera at the beginning of 2014, right before Japan's CP+ show that will take place February 13 to 16.
The new OM-D camera is rumored to have the same sensor as the E-M1 without the AA filter, as well as a similar electronic viewfinder. Moreover, new Micro Four Thirds lenses are also planned to be released sometime next year.
Sony, on the other hand, recently released the world's first full frame mirrorless cameras (A7 and A7R) and already reported three times more pre-orders than initial estimations.
What do you think about the Sony-Olympus partnership?