"Konica Minolta Holdings will withdraw from the camera and film businesses,
marking the end to one of the best known brands in the photography world.

As part of the surprise move, the Tokyo-based company said Thursday it will
sell a portion of its digital single lens reflex (SLR) camera assets to Sony
for an undisclosed sum and cease production of compact cameras by March of
this year.

The company said it will stop making photographic film and color paper by
March 2007, pulling out of a market in rapid decline due to the spread of
digital cameras, which store images digitally.

The world's third-largest maker of camera film after Eastman Kodak and Fuji
Photo Film had said in November that it would significantly downsize its
loss-making camera and film operations, but not completely shut them down.

"I wanted to put a clear end to the matter," Konica Minolta President Fumio
Iwai said at a press conference, where the company also announced that Iwai
would be replaced by Vice President Yoshikatsu Ota on April 1.

Konica Minolta said in November it expected to post a group net loss of
$407.9 million (47 billion yen) in the fiscal year that ends in March.

But the decision to completely pull the plug on the business caught analysts
and archrival Fuji Photo off guard.

Konica Minolta, created in August 2003 through the merger of Konica and
Minolta, has a long history in the camera and film markets, producing
Japan's first photographic paper in 1903 and the country's first color film
in 1940.

Following the news, Fuji Photo issued a press release saying it will
continue making traditional camera film.

JP Morgan analyst Hisashi Moriyama called Konica Minolta's move a "positive
surprise.I was also not expecting Iwai to step down. This is a bold move
rare among Japanese firms." He added that the decision could increase
pressure on Fuji to downsize its business.

"I think the stock will go up. The traditional camera and film businesses
were seen as a barrier to earnings growth and now it will be completely
gone."

By ditching the unprofitable operations, Iwai said the company could focus
resources on more promising areas such as color office copiers and LCD
materials, medical equipment and optical devices.

Sony and Konica Minolta formed an agreement in July to jointly develop
digital SLR cameras, which are generally more expensive and offer better
performance than point-and-shoot compact models, and typically use
interchangeable lenses.

Konica Minolta said it will continue to produce digital SLR camera bodies
and lenses for Sony based on its Maxxum/Dynax mount system, meaning that
current owners of those lenses will be able to use them on new digital SLR
models to be developed by Sony.

But the Konica Minolta brand will disappear, ending a legacy that started
when Konica introduced its first camera in 1903"

On this topic - does anyone know when Miranda will be releasing their dSLR?

--
Jeff R.

Who cares where the camera comes from, a hell of a lot of DSLRs use Sony
CCDs!!  They have plenty of experience in cameras in general and the KM
design team is working on the new cameras.

Doubt it.  A standard mount will never happen so long as there are
competitors.