Instant payback of visual kind
( LIANG YU)
06/29/2001
Holding a digital camera, searching for an appealing street scene on the liquid crystal screen and savouring, instantly, the pictures he takes - this is the hobby of Liu Chang, a journalist at a local news agency. It's really fun to shoot pictures with this camera: you not only get your selected pictures immediately, but you can add your wild imagination to them, said Liu. Liu is typical of an increasing number of people in China who have become more aware of the magic of digital cameras. They are the targets of both foreign and domestic companies that are ambitious to strike home in the country's digital imaging market. Unsated appetite Earlier this month, the US-based Eastman Kodak Co signed a memorandum with Shanghai Seagull Camera Co Ltd, China's oldest camera maker, to co-operate on manufacturing digital cameras in Shanghai. Such an aggressive move is viewed by many industry analysts as signalling the ambition of Kodak, a dominant player in the domestic traditional picture market, to secure a critical position in China's fledgling digital imaging market. The latest consumer market research results, submitted by China Central Television (CCTV) in May, showed that Kodak now grabs more than 63 per cent of the domestic film market, while Fuji, its nearest rival, holds about 23 per cent. Yet this does not sate Kodak's appetite now that it has realized it is facing a major technology disruption as photography moves from film to digital. In 1999, Kodak raked in $300 million from its digital imaging products and services, accounting for 14 per cent of its total sales volume, and it expects the latter figure will surge to 50 per cent by 2004. By allocating 70 per cent of its research and development (R&D) budget to digital products, the company expects the new business scope will bring an 8 to 15 per cent increase in its sales in the next five years. Under the deal with Seagull, Kodak will contribute product design, technology and management, while its Chinese partner will assist in manufacturing and marketing. With the first-phase investment estimated at $4 million, production of digital cameras, under the Kodak brand, will soon begin at Kodak's plant in Pudong District. Output is expected to reach 500,000 in two years which will primarily supply the domestic market, according to Huang Qifan, director of Shanghai Economic Commission. Foreign domination Echoing the State Development Planning Commission's call to further boost the country's digital imaging market, sales of digital cameras in China reported a 130 per cent growth rate in 2000 to reach 160,000 units. More than 400,000 units are expected to be sold this year. However, foreign players still dominate the domestic market: industry analysts estimate that foreign brands, including Kodak, Olympus, Fuji, Sony, Canon and Epson, constitute more than 90 per cent of the cameras sold here. But foreign players won't find things as easy as they expect. Seagull set up its own digital camera facility in Shanghai's Songjiang District in 1999, with an annual output capacity of 600,000 units. Phoenix, another major domestic camera maker, will start manufacturing digital cameras later this year at its 30 million yuan ($3.6 million) production base in Nanchang of East China's Jiangxi Province. Some other companies are thinking beyond the mere manufacture of digital cameras. In May, Himalaya Digital Imaging Technology Co Ltd, a hi-tech start-up based in Wuhan in Central China's Hubei Province, established its pilot business, Ayahima Digital Image Service Centre, in Pudong District. The facility is billed as the biggest of its kind in China. While providing traditional film developing services and selling digital cameras produced by the company, the centre focuses on building a viable photo business in cyberspace through the Internet. By logging onto the centre's website, www.aya78.com, customers can upload the pictures shot with their digital cameras and get them printed. They can also access online advice from the centre to help them edit the pictures.
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