The three big names in digital SLRs, Nikon, Canon, and Olympus, have all taken a significant market share hit in Japan as Sony and Matsushita advance. Both companies are brand new to the SLR market; Sony released its first SLR, the alpha DSLR-A100, in July and Matsushita joined in with its first model only a day later.

Japan Digital SLR Market Share by Unit Sales
Vendor              July           June
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Canon               33.3%          51.6%
Nikon               27.4%          32.6%
Sony                21.6%           2.3%
Pentax              14.0%           7.6%
Olympus              2.8%           4.8%
Matsushita           0.8%           0.1%

-June sales for Sony and Matsushita reflect advance orders.
Source : BCN Ranking

The new competition, however, is not expected to have a negative impact on the steady growth of the SLR market, which now outpaces the digital camera market as a whole. SLRs are now also the most profitable sector of the digital camera market, as price competition continues to lower the profit margin for compact cameras.