Late last night, Olympus officially finalized the sale of its Imaging business to Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) and released a detailed press release in which they share some of what we can expect from so-called "OM Digital Solutions Corporation" moving forward.
In an interesting interview with DPReview published early this morning, Olympus VP of Global Strategy Setsuya Kataoka tried to shed more light on what the sale of the Imaging Division means for users of Olympus cameras and lenses moving forward.
The back and forth between Olympus and the public continues, and the news is grim. After officially denying rumors of an imminent imaging business shut down, Olympus' CEO backtracked on some previous comments today, implying that the company's camera business may be up for sale.
Over the weekend, an admin on the Personal View forum published the shocking claim that "closure is near" for Olympus' camera division, writing that the company's camera business was less than a year away from being shut down. The claim has sparked a firestorm of speculation and rebuttals.
Canon and Nikon both published their latest financial reports over the past couple of weeks, and the numbers don't paint a rosy picture for the camera industry. Both companies reported a decline in imaging business sales of around 17% over the previous year.