(Panasonic) has signed a joint development agreement with Olympus that will see it develop interchangeable lens type digital SLR cameras based on the Four Thirds System standard.

January 14, 2005: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic) has signed a joint development agreement with Olympus that will see it develop interchangeable lens type digital SLR cameras based on the Four Thirds System standard.
Both companies plan to work together to create technologies and key components based on the Four Thirds System, which is currently supported by Olympus, Eastman Kodak, Fuji Photo Film, Sanyo Electric and Sigma Corporation. Only Olympus has released Four Thirds System products thus far, with the E-1 plus several lenses and flash units being launched in October 2003 and the E-300 plus several additional lenses in December 2004.
Under the terms of the agreement, which aims to meet the needs of the rapidly growing global market for digital SLR cameras, the two companies will jointly develop technologies and devices, and promote the development of digital SLR cameras that maximize the extensive user benefits of the Four Thirds System. Developments will merge Olympus’s SLR camera technology with Panasonic’s advanced digital AV technology, and both companies will combine to develop innovative new design concepts for next-generation digital SLR cameras. Both companies will continue to develop digital SLR system cameras and related system products on an individual basis but no details have been released on when Panasonic will release its first DSLR camera.
According to forecasts from the Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA) worldwide shipments of DSLR cameras for the fiscal year from March 2004-2005 should reach 2.7 million units, up from 1.24 million units for the previous year. These figures are predicted to rise to 4.5 million units for 2006 and 5.5 million units for 2007.