Speaking following the release of a Futuresource industry report earlier this month on the Western European market opportunity for interchangeable lens compact cameras, consultant James Wells says that the market "was still relatively small last year, with just 80,000 units shipped across Western Europe, compared with 3.2m digital SLRs."

This is not expected to change in 2010, he adds, with only 377,000 units expected to be sold in Western Europe, compared to 3.3m for DSLRs. "Moving forward there are some factors that will limit growth for the Interchangeable Lens Compact market in the short to mid term, such as certain technological factors that influence camera performance and higher average retail prices compared to entry level DSLRs," says Wells.

But he adds, a "big influence on growth will be whether Canon and Nikon - who currently dominate the wider interchangeable lens camera market - decide to launch an interchangeable lens compact product. Makoto Kimura, Nikon's president, recently confirmed Nikon will launch a new type of SLR as early as this fiscal year, saying it 'may adopt the so-called mirrorless structure'. To date there has been no official word from Canon regarding its future plans for interchangeable lens compacts."

Earlier this month, Nikon's president, in an interview with Bloomberg, revealed that the Japanese firm plans to release a new concept camera that could include video capabilities and be mirrorless. Read Nikon to introduce "new concept" camera.

Wells adds: "Panasonic, Olympus, Sony and Samsung (with a 20% combined share of interchangeable lens camera shipments in 2009) are expected to promote this segment heavily in 2010, particularly at the Photokina show in September in the run up to the important fourth quarter period. The long term aim is to try to break Canon's and Nikon's stranglehold on the interchangeable lens camera market. Suffice to say this will be an interesting space to watch over the next two to three years."

For more details, contact www.futuresource-consulting.com.