Canon 2012 Annual Report Download - page 49

FINANCIAL OVERVIEW 47
mainly on key components, to include general parts and
molds, and production equipment. Additionally, Canon
plans to promote a globally optimized production struc-
ture through agile production strategies always suited to
the characteristics of each global base.
• Concentrating on Cultivation of Technological Themes
that Lead the Way to the Future
Canon plans to accelerate innovation by further filtering
down key themes and concentrating resources to obtain a
steady stream of basic patents.
Office Business Unit
In 2012, Canon was able to maintain its revenue from sales
of MFDs, services and solutions despite a strong yen and the
deceleration of the global economy. The consolidation of Océ
N.V. has brought many strategic assets to Canon, including
expertise, resources and innovation.
The importance of connectivity, systems integration, busi-
ness-workflow and web services continues to grow in the
office imaging space and such added value is increasingly
offered together with MFDs, printers and other hardware
products as customer solutions. Canon seeks to maintain its
leading position in these core markets.
In 2012, Canon expanded its offering with the launch
of the imageRUNNER ADVANCE 4000, 6200, 8200 and
imageRUNNER ADVANCE C5200 series and Océ VarioPrint
110/120/135, which are monochrome digital presses jointly
developed with Océ N.V.
As for Production Printing Product (PPP), Canon strength-
ened its innovation capabilities in business services to
accelerate the development of higher added value services
as well as continued to invest in new products in order to
expand its business in existing and new markets. To enter
the Poster print market, Canon launched a new wide for-
mat printer, the ColorWave 650. Canon also introduced
InfiniStream, which enables the vision of high-volume just-
in-time production of customized folding cartons, with the
industry’s fastest liquid toner technology. As for solutions
Canon introduced imageWARE Desktop Version 3, a software
program that enhances the imageRUNNER ADVANCE ecosys-
tem by enabling seamless document management. Canon
also launched new service offerings for the Canon Business
Imaging Online, Canon’s unique cloud-based platform, while
joining forces with major players in the technology industry.
To maintain and enhance its competitive edge and to meet
increasingly sophisticated customer demands, Canon plans to
continue reinforcing its hardware and software product line-
ups and solutions capability.
Although there is heightened uncertainty about the
future of the laser printer market with the ongoing eco-
nomic downturn in Europe and the deceleration of growth in
emerging markets, Canon’s laser printer business continues
to occupy a large share and strong position in the market. In
the monochrome laser printer market, the transition to a low
price segment is expected to expand sales in the micro office/
home office market and in emerging markets. Canon expects
an expansion in the color laser printer market to be driven by
increasing demand for color printing. Moreover, Canon plans
to aggressively launch new products in the MFDs market and
to drive Canon’s business growth.
However, Canon is experiencing fierce competition with
competitors focused on the laser printer market and an
eventual decline in sales prices is becoming a major threat.
Growth of the tablet PC and smartphone market, which
affects users’ printing behavior and may also lead to a
decrease in demand for printing, is becoming a new threat.
In response, Canon aims to promote technological
developments in order to introduce in a timely manner com-
petitive products across the office business unit, and to
pursue business efficiency through continuous cost reduc-
tion and optimization of its supply chain.
Imaging System Business unit
The demand for high-resolution digital photos remained
high, and as a result the interchangeable lens digital cam-
era market continued to show robust growth in 2012. By
market category, growth remained strong in developed coun-
tries, and was particularly robust in Asia outside Japan and
other emerging markets, which contributed to overall global
growth in the imaging system business unit. By product cat-
egory, the digital single-lens-reflex (“SLR”) camera market
showed steady growth, while mirrorless cameras represented
a new category stimulating consumer demand.
In terms of interchangeable lens digital cameras, on top
of the need for higher resolution and more compact and
lightweight sizes, there is also consumer demand for video
recording functions which manufacturers are meeting with
a full high definition (HD) format, which is becoming a stan-
dard feature. Canon believes there remains considerable
room for future growth in this category through develop-
ment of new products based on state-of-the-art technology. In
emerging markets, sales volumes of interchangeable lens dig-
ital cameras are still increasing rapidly.
As for the interchangeable lens market, interchangeable
lens digital cameras have made dramatic advances in popu-
larity, and further growth is expected in the future. Canon
will continue to endeavor to market products that meet
customer needs, such as lenses equipped with an image stabi-
lization function, so as to expand sales and market share.
Overall, the compact digital camera market shrank year-
on-year due to ongoing economic stagnation and the rapid
growth of tablet PCs and smartphones. However, Canon’s
position in the compact market improved such that Canon
now maintains a higher market share compared to the previ-
ous fiscal year.
In the digital camera market, Canon faced intense price
competition. This combined with the value of the yen
remaining at historical highs throughout most of 2012,