A Strong Seller: The Fujifilm instax mini HELLO KITTY edition
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According to the latest Earning Report, Fujifilm’s Imaging Solutions segment went down 0.5% from the previous fiscal year, but it is still profitable “reflecting strong sales in the instant photo systems and drastic profit improvement in digital cameras, though overall revenue decreased due to the decrease in sales of digital cameras and others.”
A special mention in the report goes to the instax mini HELLO KITTY edition (launched in November 2014) and to the instax SHARE Smartphone Printer SP-1. But also the Fujifilm X100T and XF 50-140 sales were strong. Here an excerpt or the latest Fujifilm earnings report:
“In the photo imaging business, sales of instant photo system increased around the world, because the pleasure of printing photos on the spot was re-realized, Sales of instax mini HELLO KITTY, which was launched in November 2014, and sales of , with which the pictures in smartphones can be printed on instant films easily, increased as well as those of other various designs of instax films increased.
[…]
Sales in the optical device and electronic imaging business decreased due to reduction of compact digital camera’s lineup, while the sales of premium digital cameras X Series were strong. In the electronic imaging field, sales of premium compact digital camera, FUJIFILM X100T, and sales of large-diameter telephoto zoom lenses, including the FUJINON XF50-140mm F2.8 R LM OIS WR, both of which were launched in November 2014, and others were strong. Looking ahead, Fujifilm is expanding the product lineup.”
So, it’s the high-end X-series that saves the digital camera business… now I wonder if the Selfie-Fujifilm X-A2 will be able to make also the entry-level segment profitable or not… i doubt, but the next reports will tell us if was well invested R&D or just another entry-level flop.
Check out the latest Fujfilm reports here.
And c’mon Fuji… give us that X-T1 Hello Kitty edition 😉
46 Responses
Some executives would take these 2 unrelated facts and combine them to give us your
pictured fantasy XT1. Fortunately Fujifilm seems to have a better grade of
decision making staff. They know that 2+2 does not =5.
An X-T1, sure, but if a “Hello, Kitty” instax can be such a profitable hit, it’s not that far a stretch for a “Helly, Kitty” X-A1 to be a hit, given its price range. However, I am not advocating this (and would not buy it).
I’m convinced that there is no better way to get a naturarl smile from your subject than showing a hello kitty camera 😉
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TWovtbl0bAg/US93hzCNO1I/AAAAAAAABqo/E425tKIURYc/s718/цыпленок+коллаж.jpg
Those look like tools of the trade for pet and toddler portraiture.
Yep. Back when I was photographing toddlers quite often, I used to make shoe mount toys. These lens toys are better; I guess Hello Kitty Fuji will have its market niche, too.
They should release a X30 with Selfie-screen !
So, compared to year ago, digital cameras fell from 23.1 billions of yen to 20.9, and lenses fell from 20.1 to 12.9, all while yen depreciated sharply. OK, cameras can be explained by compacts, but lenses… and they have added only super expensive stuff to the mix, like that 50-140/2.8 or 56/1.2 AFD. The delay of pro f/2.8 normal and UWA zooms costs them, and lack of OIS on 16-55/2.8 will cost them again.
Not necessarily. Fuji seems to be honing in on targeting the enthusiast segment. There are a lot more of us enthusiasts than pros and most consumers won’t bother with anything other than their smartphone. Enthusiasts have disposable cash (usually) and want pro or pro-like equipment.
Super expensive is kind of relative to the consumer.
People who try to photograph their children’s sports events with smartphones quickly realize that they just lost a moment which is never coming back.
The ones who care. My in laws do that and don’t even think that way. To them they captured the memory they wanted and shared it. They aren’t as concerned with a specific shot.
But their kid playing sports on the field or in the gym is just a tiny spec on the 28mm lens, and at 1/30s, totally blurred and unrecognizable.
They don’t care. I’ve watched them. That isn’t what they’re focused on. They’re focused on the event and the memory. For the average consumer it’s good enough because it’s fast and convenient to capture and share. Sure, they’d love better pics and video but they won’t go through the effort. As my in laws said, “that’s why we have you!”
I remember when parents took one or two photos at sports events, every once in a while. Mums and Dads were on the sides, rooting, not snapping away. Today is colder, and sports events feel like competition on the sidelines for best photos from DAD that still suck.
So very glad I grew up prior to the riot of digital.
It’s the paradox of the current times. Many more ways to get closer connected these days which causes a lot of people to find some method of creating emotional or physical distance.
Bring back the Insta-matic!
Sadly, what they captured probably is that all they needed. A smartphone gives them a camera where previously there was none. Fuji’s success will be to super serve those that care about making better images with tools that are a pleasure to use. So far, so good. 🙂
I doubt smartphones gives anybody anything even close to what they need if they need is 200mm eq lens and their phone has 28mm equivalent, and to stop sport motion (1/1000s) in low light you need f/2.8 at ISO 6400-12800 and their phone only works to ISO 800 even without digital zoom. Even 1/2.3″ P&S cameras with real zoom lenses don’t work in the circumstances.
The average consumer who uses their smartphone (or an entry level camera) would have no idea of what you are talking about. they leave the 2.8 zooms and high iso for the pros. So really they are no worse off. looking at my family members who only use their iPhones – I would say they get significantly better photos than they use to…
Do they children participate in sports? Because I doubt they get anything useful from a 28mm-eq lens shooting anything from foorball to gymnastics.
You’re still missing my point. .. they don’t really care. They get a photo as evidence that can easily be shared and viewed. Also stop comparing pro equipment to smartphones. I agree with you that the phone cannot compete. However an entry dslr with its 18-55mm lens will also suck in low light gymnastic shots. .. and your average entry dslr owner never changes lenses. So they’re not really much worse off
Don’t agree, average children sports shooter will mount $200 55-200 or 55-250 (or $99 Oly 40-150 on m43) and get the requisite results. Smartphone will get something where a child is not even recognizable.
The iPhone has a lens faster than f/2,8, so it’s got part of the equation right.
Indeed: choose a market, and plug it better than anyone else. Don’t try to plug every market. Make a brand, not a blanket.
Ditto most Fujifilm cameras/lenses unless shot way stopped down. Sports are not Fujifilm’s strong suit any more than they are the strong suits of smartphones.
I have little experience with Fuji cameras, so please elaborate why is that?
Note that “profit improvement in digital cameras” has long been code words for “we’re still losing money at this business but we’re losing less money now” in Fujifilm presentations.
But frankly, digital camera sales are a small enough part of their business that it is mostly ignorable in terms of the entire company bottom line these days. To me, DSCs are a hobby business to Fujifilm. A business they’d like to stay in, but it isn’t fundamental to the success/failure of the company. I don’t know if the interest in keeping this business going is to honor veteran workers at the company with continued jobs, to keep their finger in something that they believe has a real future, to keep R&D going on something that is adjacent to other things that they do, or all of the above.
Fujifilm is hardly unique in this regard.
Fuji is offering many fewer compact cameras, as well. The EXR line has been eliminated altogether, causing me & probably no one else to weep into a pillow nightly. These have been hemorrhaging money so badly (for everyone, as I understand it, not just Fuji) that that alone would account for a huge improvement, never mind the improvement in X series.
It is a major consumer product for them. Every Fuji camera sold and in somebody’s hands is an ad for their other products – the same people who see on the street or own the cameras make business decisions too.
And I doubt they lose a whole lot of money. Ads which somebody else pays for. 🙂
If companies only kept the product lines bringing them the most profit, that would be a global disaster…
Sure, but if companies mostly kept product lines that bring them negative return on investment, it will be a bigger disaster.
I know your joking about the XT-1 Hello Kitty version, but seriously, if Fuji were to ever do such a mindless thing to the awesome XT-1, I would have to conclude the company was in the hands of mental defectives. I would then ebay all Fuji equip.
Have you seen what leika does???
This is forecast. How qualified it is depends on what to want to hear the top management.
Reality or wishes…..
HERETIC!!! BLASPHEMER!!! The camera gods will come and kill you in you sleep for even conceiving such a thought!
Well apparently in the 3rd quarter report Fuji would have made even more money but quote “due to the acquisition of
Japan Tissue Engineering Co., Ltd. which has become a consolidated subsidiary”. They felt that buying a company that makes behind wipe stronger was also a decision worth doing. I can see it now. “Fuji introduces the 16mm f/1.4 + 90mm f/2 lenses to compliment their XF line and now introducing streak resistant toilet paper. Plus guaranteed to stop Tsunami also”.
If the high end models are indeed crucial to Fuji’s camera division success, why has the XPro languished without an updated model for so long?
Very good question. The X Pro 1 is now laughably obsolete. I can’t see how Fujifilm would let this happen unless it were being phased out entirely.
I expect there to be no X Pro 2.
I thought the xpro1 sold pretty badly… they’re probably referring to the xt1
The problem is that Fujifilm released their top model at 1800$ USD that was nothing more than a great idea. Yes, it is possible to get great images from it. But its standout feature: the OVF, was only partially hashed out. You couldn’t check focus like you can on a rangefinder, so you had to rely on the EVF. And the EVF updated way too slowly, and the card write speed was dismal at the best of times.
It was a great idea that many people loved, but which few people could actually use in anything resembling ‘professional’ usage. I’m one of the ones that loved it but gave up on it.
Fujifilm could have waited till they addressed the problems with the OVF, but they had NO patience. And it is entirely possible that they ruined it, as a brand monolith, because of it.
If/when its successor comes out, it will be the camera the X-Pro 1 should have been. If it does not get released, it isn’t because the market wasn’t ready. it is because Fujifilm botched the job.
1/ That camera does not make too much sense with the current lens lineup. EVF is more than sufficient.
2/ Fuji decides not to make cameras that loose money.
3/ Fuji has no price leverage in the market anymore, since Sony make a FF camera for less (with better build), Fuji has no room left for a more expensive model than the T1.
4/ Still plenty of new X-Pro1 for sale.
We can still hope for a rangefinder style camera, but more chance that Zeiss make one based on a A7 than Fuji make an XPro1 update.
just left Pentax and joined Fuji, Pentax has been doing the hello kitty kind of stuff since years…..and now I see it again on the Fuji grounds…I am getting nervous…I do not want to change the system again, so early…
And the hello kitty is not just a funny set of toys- it is a philosophy of the evil. Search the network and find yourself.
F. Nietzsche: “The camera Gods are dead. Smartphones have killed them”
Nothing as horrible as Hello Kitty. The make edition models, but those sell to collectors, and are never laughable. They may be ugly, but the coincide with other luxury brands.
When it comes to taste, at their worst, Germans are a few steps above all but the most niche, most amazing Japanese companies.
BTW: Ocharaku (http://ocharaku.jp) a company that designs earphone technology based on the shape/structure of dried tea leaves is unique. It is very Japanese, and incredibly a brand-builder.
Let’s talk about Hasselblad 😀
There is plenty of room for a camera more expensive than the X-T1, but that camera is not the XP2 and it does not have a HVF. A Pro level camera would have dual battery, dual memory cards, 1/8000 shutter, improved AF and very high build quality. Like a smaller 1DX