Eddie Udagawa – VP, Consumer Imaging and Information Centre, Canon India

Global imaging leader Canon is proud to be the number one camera company in India with over 50 per cent of market share in DSLR for the past 16 years, and looking forward to keep the position in future. Eddie Udagawa, Vice President Consumer Imaging and Information Centre, Canon India, in an interaction with Pahi Mehra, talked about the company’s performance, mirrorless camera market and how smartphones have contributed to the growth of the imaging industry.

So how do you think the photography culture in India is changing? I came to India 3 years ago. And since then I have been there in this market and keeping touch with the customers. Based on the IPO Indian photo love to take photo along with this the culture is very vibrant and colorful. So, the demand is increasing and more people are moving abroad to travel, and making it a good change for photography.

Along with the increasing photography demand the level of income is also increasing. Hence, more people are switching to better devices and equipment’s. Also increasing usage of mobile phones is leading to increase in photography. As now people want a better picture there we think about

DSLR photography.

Since you spoke about the increase in photography culture globally, can you tell the difference in Indian and other markets? I have got chances to go overseas with my partners and I’ve seen that they love taking photos. So that passion for photography is very strong in other countries. I’ve China, Singapore and other regions but there is a strong passion for photography in India.

So what are the opportunities you see in the Indian market? India has a huge population more than 1.3 billion people and still increasing. Also, there are younger people who are totally different from China as China has almost the same 1.3 billion people more or less the same, but in India there is more potential. The income level is becoming better and better. And still the camera penetration is very small, so there is huge demand.

So how do you think Canon’s camera segment

has been doing in India? From the past many years it’s been good in India, although this year we are facing some difficulty due to economy situation. Like according to news in the first quarter GDP was very low in the last few years. I think it was just a temporary situation, but towards the festive season and towards the future I believe this

potential will come back.

How big do you think is the mirrorless camera market? Mirrorless camera has a potential, that’s why we have introduced a full frame RO and RP Camera. So, there is a big potential. But we have a full line up of strategy and full line up of DSLR. And now, we have introduced several types of mirrorless cameras. Because people still like to have DSLR while some like the new technology like the, mirrorless technology, so are trying to cater to all demands. Luckily, we are no. 1 in the world for camera and sales. So, we have a duty to provide good products as a line up.

So how many mirrorless cameras do you have so far? I haven’t counted, but the full frame

“India has a huge population more than 1.3 billion people and still increasing. Also, there are younger people who are totally different from China as China has almost the same 1.3 billion people more or less the same, but in India there is more potential. The income level is becoming better and better. And still the camera penetration is very small, so there is huge demand”

we have 2 R and RP’S, APS C type, M50, M5, M6 and M100. So, total six.

What are your expansion strategies and how many more mirrorless cameras are you coming up with? That’s confidential. But of course, they are demand. So, Canon Inc Tokyo’s R&D people are working very hard to cater to these demands.

How challenging was the transition from traditional cameras to mirrorless? Not really a big challenge, anyway we are trying to fulfill these demands of DSLR. And the upcoming demands too. We already are satisfied with the number of mirrorless and we are trying to satisfy all the customers.

So do you think that in India people are more into mirrorless cameras or they are still stuck with traditional DSLRS? And what kind of developments are you aiming for the future of mirrorless cameras in India? There are still several different types of demands. Some people like to have traditional type DSLR and some people like mirrorless because of different functions and different specification. Actually, more of professional photographers like to have DSLR because of their functions. And if we talk about the developments, Of course we are trying to get newer technology to the camera or any newer product we launch.

Some consumers in India feel that Canon is a little conservative. What would you like to say about that? Many times I have heard of that. I’m fortunate that we are number one in manufacturing. But of course, we are trying to align with customers’ demands and trying to get newer technology and innovation in our products. We must be innovative always that’s for sure.

So where is canon innovating nowadays? Based upon in imaging technologies, which needs to be balled to be in, Of course, according to some information I would say we have so many patent AI, so I don’t know what’s going to happen. But hopefully with newer technologies we thrive to adopt and get into our cameras.

So, is Canon working on artificial intelligence? According to some report it does look like it. About which I’m unaware of being a sales guy.

From a very long time Canon and Nikon has dominated the camera industry. But there’s a lot more competition in the market now, how do you think this competition has changed the company’s view and will to strive? Yes of course it is a challenge. But it is also very good for us as it grows the market. If there are only 1 or 2 manufacturers then how will the market grow? Also, to compete we also need to get newer technologies and products to be evolved. So, it is a challenge but it is necessary to evolve.

Since past sometime smartphones and cameras are at stiff competition. So, do you think, smartphones are enemy of cameras? No, I think this is very good for people to get in touch with photography. So, it is ok, as more people wants better photography then there is DSLR or mirrorless cameras. So, from our point of view it is a very good thing for the customer to get in touch with photography.

What do you prefer smartphone photography or DSLR photography? In terms of photography DSLR photos are much better. That’s my personal feelings. But for quickies smartphones are best. I like to capture my memorable moments with DSLR so that I don’t regret.

Apart from cameras, can you tell us about your key business highlights and growth of the previous year? Growth numbers we cannot share. But in terms of camera performance, for import and export of data we have 50 per cent of market share for DSLR. So, we are proud of being number one camera company in India. Of course, not only in India from the past 16 years, we are number one in the world. And we are very much proud of it.

So going ahead for future do you have any other projects or products coming up? We have opened the flagship imaging store recently in Delhi, where we offer customers to touch and use different types of camera and lenses. So hopefully, we will open more flagship stores because our aim is to be closer to the customers. We cannot just do advertisements we want our customers to touch and feel the photography by our cameras. So, that’s what we are aiming to do. And we also organized photography workshops at different places. So far, we have visited 17 states and 139 cities, by these workshops we demonstrate people our camera and let them touch and thrive. We would continue to do this kind of ground activities. And, we are going to work out workshops in each city. So that people can know about the photography by Canon. ■