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TOKYO—Japan's Pentax Corp. said on Wednesday it has tied up with
a unit of South Korea's Samsung Electronics to jointly develop
digital single lens reflex (SLR) cameras, aiming to pool
resources and cut costs. The deal will allow Samsung to make a
full-fledged entry into the fast-growing market for digital SLR
cameras, which are generally more expensive and offer better
performance than simple point-and-shoot compact models and use
interchangeable lenses. It also marks the latest alliance
between traditional camera makers and electronics firms in
digital SLR models following similar deals between Olympus Corp.
and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., and Konica Minolta
Holdings and Sony Corp.
Pentax said it and Samsung Techwin Co. Ltd. would work together
on developing entry-level and middle-range digital SLR models
that sell for under 200,000 yen. Each company plans to market
the cameras under its own brand. Samsung Techwin is owned 25.5
percent by Samsung Electronics, the most valuable technology
firm outside the United States and a vast electronics maker with
leading positions in a wide range of products including chips,
mobile phones and flat panel displays.
The alliance will bring together Samsung's strength in
electronics and Pentax 's expertise in lenses. Pentax also hopes
the deal will allow it to accelerate product development and
better weather a brutal price war in the digital camera market.
"In the digital era the pace of innovation is so fast," Pentax
Senior Executive Officer Ko Torigoe told a press conference. "We
have embarked on this joint development to increase our speed."
Their first joint effort will be a camera, based on a current
Pentax model, that incorporates some Samsung technology and
which will be launched next spring. A jointly developed camera
would not come until next autumn, Pentax said. Pentax is
concentrating on digital SLR cameras to shift its focus away
from compact digital cameras, a segment of the market that has
been flooded with dozens of electronics makers, pushing down
prices and leaving margins razor-thin. Pentax reported a 48
percent fall in group operating profit for the 2004/05 business
year, hit by sliding prices of compact digital cameras, which
pushed its imaging division to an operating loss of 1.6 billion
yen.
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