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Canon does not see any competition from Korean companies such as Samsung, as it believes it has more patents for products such as digital cameras and printers.
In such product lines, the competition is only among Japanese companies, Canon feels. In the core technologies for products such as copiers, inkjets and cameras, the Korean companies find it tough to rival Canon’s matured technology and patents, Kazutada Kobayashi, President and Chief Executive Officer, Canon India, told Business Line .
“We have more patents than them in these products. Samsung has already tried many times (to compete), but failed against us. Having said that I must say that we welcome competition,” he said. He said Canon is basically competing with Xerox and Ricoh in the copier range, Hewlett-Packard and Epson in printers, and Sony and Nikon in cameras.
According to the Canon’s Web site, it has over 1,100 registered patented technologies in digital cameras, 2,300 in inkjet printers, 5,600 in multifunctional printers and more than 200 in scanners globally.
However, in terms of rankings, Samsung is the number one in the US Patent Office’s list because of its smartphone categories, said Alok Bhardwaj, Executive Vice-President, Canon India. He added that Canon does not intend entering the smartphone market, as it is not in its domain.
“The competition is getting more serious in digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras, and we want to focus on them because Indians are getting into ‘serious’ photography,” Kobayashi said, adding that the company is not giving up on compact digital cameras.
“We have similar lines as Sony and Nikon. The difference is just that the business from compact and DSLR cameras is becoming 1:2 for us,” he said.
To promote serious or professional photography, the company launched Canon Image Square stores in October 2010 to sell cameras and printers. There are now 110 such outlets in India. “Our plan is to expand this network to 300 shops by 2015,” he said. The walls of the stores carry ‘wow’ pictures to excite people.
Canon India had a turnover of Rs 1,850 crore last year and expects the same this year, too.
>ronendrasingh.s@thehindu.co.in
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