Nikon will increase monthly production of its popular D70 digital SLR camera from 70,000 to 90,000 units by September or October, according to a report from the Reuters news agency.

 

June 17, 2004: Nikon will increase monthly production of its popular D70 digital SLR camera from 70,000 to 90,000 units by September or October, according to a report from the Reuters news agency.
A spokesperson from Nikon is quoted as saying the company expects to sell one million DSLR cameras in the current business year, which ends in March 2005. This is more than three times the number of DSLRs sold in 2003/04. Nikon also expects sales of all digital cameras to rise by 44%, reaching 7.8 million units by March 2005. Nikon has also announced that it may cease production of film compact cameras next year because the average selling price of these units was falling more than its May 2004 forecast of a 10% year-on-year decline. The company expects to ship only 50,000 units in the current business year, compared with 600,000 in 2002/03 and 1.3 million in the year to March 2002. According to the company spokesperson: “There really is no region in the world where you can do good business in compact film cameras any more”. Film SLRs will continue to be produced.