The current president of Pentax Ricoh Imaging Americas Corporation, Ned Bunnell, will retire effective 30th September. From 1st October Noboru Akahane will be appointed President of the “Americas,” in addition to his current role as president of Pentax Ricoh Japan. “Given the market opportunity, North America is very important to our business,” Akahane explains. “There are a core group of Pentax and Ricoh fans here and we are confident to deliver high-quality products that will not only satisfy our current customers but also attract new customers through innovation and support of Ricoh’s global brand.”

Kodak has announced its plans to sell off its Personalised Imaging and Document Imaging businesses. The Personalised Imaging business includes still camera film products, photographic papers, retail print solutions and souvenir photo products sold at theme parks and other venues. The Document Imaging business provides a portfolio of scanners, capture software and services to enterprise customers. In future, Kodak intends to focus on its commercial, packaging and functional printing solutions and enterprise services, while retaining its Consumer Inkjet, Entertainment Imaging, Commercial Film and Specialty Chemicals businesses. Discussions continue on the company’s digital imaging patent portfolio, which may be sold or retained

On November 11 2012 screens in town halls, universities and village squares will play host to the worldwide première of the 11Eleven project’s feature film. Last year, when the calendar read 11.11.11, the project began with photographers, filmmakers, musicians and bloggers joining forces to create a truly global narrative - a snapshot of our world on that day. The full-length feature film that will make its debut in November is only one of the fruits of this worldwide collaboration - it will soon be followed by a photographic book and a world music collection, with all proceeds divided equally between six different charities. Interested readers are encouraged to visit the project’s website for more information.

The EISA Awards for 2012-2013 have just been announced, with 16 products selected in the Photo category.

From Canon, the EOS 5D Mark III Digital SLR has been awarded “European Advanced SLR Camera”, the PowerShot G1 X “European Compact Camera”, and the PIXMA PRO-1 has been awarded the “European Photo Printer”. Nikon take the prizes for “European Professional Camera” for the D4 and “European Camera” for the D800.

The Fujifilm X-Pro1 has been crowned “European Professional Compact System Camera”, while the Olympus TOUGH TG-1 won the award for “European All Weather Camera” and the OM-D won the “European Compact System Camera” award. The Samsung NX20 won “European Advanced Compact System Camera”

The Tamron SP 24-70mm F/2.8 Di VC USD claimed the “European Lens” award and Panasonic’s LUMIX G X VARIO 12-35mm F2.8 ASPH POWER O.I.S. lens won “European Compact System Lens”, with the Sigma APO Macro 150mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM named the “European Macro Lens” award.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V is the “European Travel Camera” of the year, while the RX100 wins “European Advanced Compact Camera” and the SLT-A57 “European SLR Camera”.

Finally Adobe joined in the fun with Lightroom 4 winning “European Photo Software”.

Website: EISA Awards - Photo

Hasselblad is set to centralise its Danish and Swedish production and service functions in Gothenburg, Sweden. “We plan to implement strategies that will continue to provide our customers with the premium quality service they expect from Hasselblad,” said Hasselblad CEO Dr. Larry Hansen. “Regrettably this relocation means we had to make redundancies in Copenhagen but we ensured resources for providing needed care to our customers.”

Research and Markets have published a new report entitled “Global Digital Camera Market 2011-2015”. Prepared by the analysts of TechNavio, the report forecasts that the global digicam market will expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10 percent over the period 2011-2015. “One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the increasing demand for digital cameras in emerging markets,” the company says. “However, the increasing smartphone penetration could pose a challenge to the growth of this market.” The report is available for purchase through the website below.

Canon today announced plans to launch digital camera production in Manaus, Brazil. Situated in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, Manaus is the capital and most populous city of the state of Amazonas. “Recently, the digital camera market has displayed steady growth, led by emerging countries,” Canon said in a statement. “Brazil, in particular, has a large market with demand expected to increase, which has created a pressing need for a strategic product supply.” The new company, called Canon Indústria de Manaus, will foreseeably commence operations in July 2013.

Bron Imaging and Hasselblad USA have announced an agreement through which the two companies will merge their operations in the United States. Effective immediately, the agreement creates a combined company called Hasselblad Bron, which “will leverage the strengths of two of the professional photo industry’s leading distributors and allow the sales, marketing and customer support divisions to provide higher levels of service”. Under terms of the merger, Hasselblad Bron will be a single entity providing support for all of the brands of the combined company. The transaction will only impact the two American organisations of Bron Imaging Group U.S. and Hasselblad USA. Hasselblad AB (Sweden), Bron Elektronik AG (Switzerland) and other related suppliers will remain independent companies.

A new report released by BCC Research claims that “by 2016, the [global] digital photography market should reach $82.5 billion”. Within this market, the segment of digital cameras and lenses is forecast to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 5.8%, reaching nearly $50 billion in 2016. By contrast, the segment of photo printers and processing equipment is expected to contract slightly to $24.7 billion, representing a decrease of $300 million versus 2011. The report is available to purchase from the BCC website.

Website: BCC Research

X-Rite has signed a merger agreement with Danaher, under which Danaher will acquire the company for $5.55 per share. This offer represents a premium of almost 39% over X-Rite’s closing share price of $4.00 on the last trading day prior to the announcement. Upon completion of the transaction, X-Rite, headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, will operate as a stand-alone company within Danaher’s Product Identification group which is a part of their Industrial Technology Segment.

Autodesk has announced a partnership with Photobucket to bring Pixlr photo editing tools to Photobucket users. Under this agreement, Photobucket will now offer its users Pixlr tools, including the popular Pixlr Editor and the newly revamped Pixlr Express. The partnership between the companies will also provide advertisers with a creative environment from which they can deliver custom, branded effects in Photobucket ad packages.

Facebook has agreed to acquire Instagram for nearly one billion US dollars in cash and stock. On his own Timeline, Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg wrote that “providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together”. Instagram has attracted approximately 27 million users in just 1.5 years, on the iOS platform alone, before launching an Android app a week ago.

Canon has once again earned placement in Fortune Magazine’s “World’s Most Admired Companies” list. Canon achieved the number-five position in the computer industry, while also earning the number-two position in the Asia/Pacific region, moving up two spots from last year. Fortune magazine’s Most Admired List is considered the definitive report card on corporate reputation, and this year surveyed a total of 698 companies from 32 countries. Criteria such as investment and social responsibility were reflective of the results, and companies that have consistently outperformed their peers were those that demonstrated a commitment to achieving success through people, and placing a high value on leadership and talent.

Kodak has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Shutterfly for the proposed sale of certain assets of its Kodak Gallery online photo services business for $23.8 million. The terms of the agreement include the transfer of customer accounts and images in the US and Canada to Shutterfly. “This sale is consistent with our objective of focusing Kodak on a core set of businesses in which we can most profitably leverage our technology and brand strengths, and provides a well-proven mechanism for ensuring that Kodak receives maximum value from these assets,” said Pradeep Jotwani, President, Consumer Businesses and Chief Marketing Officer. Kodak will give customers who do not want their photos transferred to Shutterfly the opportunity to opt out of the transition process. Those customers could then retrieve their images through free downloads or by purchasing DVDs from Kodak Gallery.

Eye-Fi has completed a $20 million Series D round of funding, led by NTT DOCOMO, the largest Japanese mobile operator and a recognised leader in mobile data and content services. NTT DOCOMO joins Eye-Fi as an investor and strategic partner, expanding the company’s distribution and further establishing its mobile partnerships. In April, NTT DOCOMO will become the first partner to launch Eye-Fi card activation via mobile phones. This new technology means NTT DOCOMO’s 59 million mobile subscribers can quickly and easily share high-quality images between their digital cameras, mobile devices, online photo sites and digital photo frames. The funding round also supports the expansion of Eye-Fi’s executive team, adding former Skype and eBay executive Michele Don Durbin as Vice President of Marketing.

Kodak has announced that it is ceasing production of digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames. Due to take place in the first half of 2012, Kodak will instead expand its current brand licensing program, and seek licensees for cameras. Kodak will continue to honor all related product warranties, and provide technical support and service for its cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames.

Ricoh has announced that Pentax Ricoh Imaging Company, which was established last October, will assume control of the design, development and distribution of all consumer-oriented imaging products, including all digital cameras. Ricoh’s other business unit, Ricoh Personal Multimedia Product Company - which has hitherto been responsible for the development, manufacture and sales of Ricoh branded cameras -, will now focus on security systems and imaging solutions for the B2B market. The changes will take effect from 1st April.

Following the passing of Sigma’s founder, Michihiro Yamaki, his son has been appointed as the company’s Chief Executive Officer. Kazuto Yamaki joined Sigma 18 years ago and has since worked as Corporate Planning Division manager, Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer.

Tamron has announced its intention to establish a new manufacturing subsidiary in Vietnam. According to the company, the new plant shall “expand the company’s overall production capacity in line with the continuing growth in demand”. Located in Hanoi, the 13,400-square-metre factory will provide employment for approximately 2,000 workers.

The CEO of Eye-Fi, a long-time member of the SD Association, has posted a blog entry in which he criticises the Association for issuing a press release on the adoption of a draft Wireless LAN specification as a new standard. “There is a process for the establishment of this kind of specification, and that process wasn’t respected,” said Eye-Fi CEO Yuval Koren. “Eye-Fi patented technology would be violated by anyone implementing this draft specification.”

Source: Eye-Fi Blog