Posted on: Tuesday, August 19, 2003

Kodak global digicam unit to move to Japan

Bloomberg News Service

TOKYO — Eastman Kodak Co. will move its global digital-camera business to Japan to compete with Japanese manufacturers, such as Sony Corp. and Canon Inc., the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported.

Rochester, N.Y.-based Kodak will this year transfer its design and development functions and next year relocate the world headquarter of its digital camera unit, the paper reported, without saying where it obtained the information.

"As we have previously said the company fully intends to be in the Japanese market (consumer digital cameras) in 2004," Kodak said.

Kodak, which sold its first digital camera in July 1995, withdrew from the Japanese market in 2001 because of strong competition, the Nihon Keizai said. Japanese manufacturers have more than 80 percent of the global market for digital cameras, the report said.

Kodak has formed an alliance with Tokyo-based Olympus Optical Corp. to jointly develop a single-reflex digital camera, the report said.