Smartphones equipped with high resolution cameras, which emerged as a threat to traditional imaging companies, have in fact yielded better sales for Canon India, the company’s president and CEO said.
“Smartphone had brought us a much bigger arena for people to really get to know about photography because with the mobile phone, you have the instant access to photography,” said Manabu Yamazaki, president & CEO, Canon India.
“So, it opened up the scope for people to come with the habit of taking pictures or taking videography and [it] opened up a bigger market,” he said.
He said emerging and established trends such as vlogging were pushing content creators to go mainstream with their shooting devices, thereby providing an impetus to the adoption of cameras both at the entry as well as professional level.
“Understanding the shift in the user journey, our growing focus would be on catering to the demand of photography enthusiasts who want to graduate from smartphone photography,” Mr. Yamazaki said.
Canon India said it had seen an upward growth in mirrorless cameras and this segment would grow steadily in the near future.
“Our efforts have resulted in us continuously securing the top global share within the industry while witnessing maximum growth in our mirrorless full frame segment,” he said.
To cater to the demand of the cinema industry, the company recently introduced Cinema Excellence Suite, a mobile studio space designed to showcase the company’s new range before the cinema people.
“We are getting very active with the cinema industry as India has probably the biggest movie industry in the world today with the traditional cinema industry as well as the Over the Top [OTT] space,” he said.
Stating that today, India has the world’s largest user base of 225 million people hooked to video streaming, he said in 2022, OTT revenue would reach about $2 billion.
“In the next 3 years, the video market is expected to touch $18 billion. Leveraging this trend, we see substantial growth in OTT segment as well for our cinematography range of products,” he said.
Besides imaging, the company’s other product portfolio includes home and office printing devices, industrial equipment and scanning products, he said.
