PICTURE PERFECT

Calcutta, Jan. 2: Canon India plans to launch products in the home photo printing segment to capture a bigger market share.

Alok Bharadwaj, director and GM, consumer imaging and information division, Canon India, said, ?With the market for digicams in India expected to grow by 100 per cent in the next five years, there is a huge opportunity for photo printing, especially in the home segment.?

Global trends have indicated a sharp drop in the photo printing business as digicam sales grew. In 2000, 40 billion pictures were printed worldwide. In 2003, the number dropped to 30 billion, of which 20 billion images were printed at home.

?A revival is expected in the printing business with 40 billion pictures likely to be printed in 2006. The home segment will definitely be bigger than the retail,? he added.

The potential is obvious from the fact that 100,000 digicams were sold through the legal route in India, which is a mere 60 per cent of the total market. Another important factor would be the growth in sale of camera phones with high picture quality.

?We are working on products that will cater to the lifestyle segment and also make printing a personal experience,? he said. ?The future roadmap is to build printers that can interact with television or a camcorder, freeze images and print them.?

Canon will introduce the first portable home printer, Selphy, in March this year. The product has already been introduced in developed markets like the US, Japan and Singapore.