Sony to double sales volume of compact cameras by 2010-11

Japanese electronics major Sony today said it plans to double sales volume of its compact digital camera to 8 lakh units in 2010-11, besides looking at introducing 3-D cameras in India this fiscal.

"Digital compact camera has been our focus in India. We will continue to do so. By the end of next fiscal, we plan to sell around 8 lakh units," Sony India Managing Director Masaru Tamagawa said.

The company sold around 4 lakh digital cameras in the last fiscal and expects to sell 5.5 lakh units by end of this financial year.

The company today also introduced 22 models of digital camera priced between Rs 12,999 and Rs 29,999.

"This year, we have increased our marketing budget by 25 per cent to around Rs 50 crore as compared to last year. We will soon roll out various marketing initiatives," he said.

On the back of the new models and marketing initiatives, the company, which currently enjoys 42 per cent of the Indian compact camera market, expects to increase its share to 45 per cent this year.

Besides, the company said it is also looking at introducing 3-D cameras in the country this fiscal, though it declined to provide details of it. A 3-D camera can take three dimensional photographs and videos.

"Sony has already introduced 3-D cameras in Las Vegas, US. We would like to bring it in India and we are planning to to introduce it this fiscal," Tamagawa said.

Besides, the company said it is planning to expand its retail presence by opening another 15-20 centres across the country. It currently has 214 centres spread over 140 cities.

On the new models launched today, Tamagawa said the cameras are equipped with technologies like Sweep Panorama and High Definition (HD) movie. Besides, most of them have a resolution of 14 mega pixel.