The finance website Forbes reported yesterday that Olympus’ net profits for the first quarter to June dropped 88.4% from a year earlier. The company blamed a dramatic decrease in digital camera prices for the fall.

“The average price of our digital cameras dropped by some 18 pct in the first quarter from the average price in the full year to March 2004… way above the projected 10 pct decline in the average price,” Olympus finance department manager Kazuhiro Watanabe said a press conference.

“Because of falling prices, combined with the deterioration of the product mix, stemmed from a shift of consumer interest to low-end models, and operating profit of our digital camera division dropped to almost zero in the first quarter.”

Website: Forbes.com - Japan’s Olympus Q1 net profit drops on falling digital camera prices