By Patrick Avenell

SYDNEY, NSW: Canon Australia has come out swinging today, accusing its rival digital imaging brands of distorting sales statistics to claim leadership in certain categories. In what it calls ‘clearing the air’, Canon sends a very blunt message about who really is the leader in this big money business.

“Canon is the ‘total’ retail camera market leader with a 30 per cent share by value for the most recent 12 months, which in simple terms means that almost one in every three dollars spent on a camera in Australia during that period was spent on a Canon,” said Canon GM consumer product marketing, Darren Ryan. “To be clear, Canon has the overwhelming leadership position in the total camera market.”

The source for Ryan’s claim is “GfK Retail and Technology Australia, Digital Still Cameras, Retail Sales Value Nov 2009 to Oct 2010 (excludes MMC, internet and online channels)”.

Although no competitors are named and shamed, the finger is most likely being pointed at Panasonic. The other Japanese supplier issued a press release last Thursday claiming market leadership in the digital compact camera category, excluding DSLR models.

“On any given day, consumers and retailers are presented with contradictory and misleading claims to leadership in the digital camera market,” Ryan said.

“Most recently we have seen GfK reporting categories spliced and diced to create composites that make no sense in terms of how a reasonable person views the camera market and reporting periods as short as one month.”

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