The terms of the agreement is "transfer 95% shares of the Imaging Division" to JIP, but in any case, JIP still have committed to service the liabilities of the Imaging Division as well as making the business viable by now being able to charge certain expenses eg. R&D to the parent Olympus company which previously it is may not be able to. After all, the Olympus Imaging Division have also been providing all the R&D for Olympus Medical Imaging products. And I wouldn't doubt that the transfer is an opportunity to remove a lot of "dead wood" in the company.
As explained many times, 1% of market share is actually a significant amount and sufficient to keep a camera manufacturer going eg. Ricoh, Pentax, Leica etc.
It was never Olympus aim or fanancial capability to gain a significant market share like Canon, Nikon or Sony.
Photographers should be glad that M43 is around, as it serves as a good halfway point between Full Frame and Compact cameras with 1" sensors. All the 3 major camera manufacturers (Canon, Nikon, Sony) have to date no really committed to the APS cameras. Just look at the lens available for their APS cameras, it is really pathetic. Compare it to the range of M43 lenses available from Panasonic and Olympus.
Without M43, anyone want a smaller format, would have to content with 1" sensor cameras!!!
As explained many times, 1% of market share is actually a significant amount and sufficient to keep a camera manufacturer going eg. Ricoh, Pentax, Leica etc.
It was never Olympus aim or fanancial capability to gain a significant market share like Canon, Nikon or Sony.
Photographers should be glad that M43 is around, as it serves as a good halfway point between Full Frame and Compact cameras with 1" sensors. All the 3 major camera manufacturers (Canon, Nikon, Sony) have to date no really committed to the APS cameras. Just look at the lens available for their APS cameras, it is really pathetic. Compare it to the range of M43 lenses available from Panasonic and Olympus.
Without M43, anyone want a smaller format, would have to content with 1" sensor cameras!!!
Actually JIP did not have to throw any money when the Olympus Camera Division was "sold" to them.
This is a quote from admin of photorumours.com.
The emphasis color font and bolfd face is by me.
Quote {
That’s right. The news out of Japan is that this is NOT a sale, but a divestment at loss. Olympus will have to pay JIP to take imaging, basically giving them the consumer patent portfolio in exchange. The reason for the press release is Olympus has to divulge now that it will be paying cash for JIP to take the assets. That warns shareholders. This was. OT a bout the loyal consumer. Anyone who thinks this is a deep pockets investor seeking a new product line, or this is an “under new management” improvement needs to know exactly what JIP is as a company. They exist to help Olympus get rid of their consumer Imaging portfolio entirely.
} UnQuote
Why? Look at the losses suffered for so long.
Olympus Camera Division was a hot potato that the parent company could not wait to get rid of.
Even the OM1 (and some lenses) were products already created under the R&D of Olympus Camera Division before winding up.
But all this is water under the bridge. Now is 2024.
Has OMDS succeeded to increase world wide market share from less than 1% to say for example, 25%?
No.
Credit: photorumors.com