Sony goes to bed with Olympus, “jointly developed components” expected

By PR admin | Published: September 15, 2012

Not a rumor, but an exciting piece of news: Sony and Olympus announced yesterday, September 14th, that they have entered into exclusive negotiations to conclude a capital partnership:

  • Olympus discussed with several potential partners but eventually chose Sony
  • Sony will invest ¥50bn (i.e. €485m or $640m) in Olympus
  • Olympus and Sony will set up a joint-venture to develop medical devices of the next generation, such as high definition endoscopes with video and 3D technology
  • In order to leverage Olympus’s business of digital cameras, which is in a slump (literally: 不振), Olympus and Sony will promote cooperation and jointly develop some components

Both parties expect to sign a definitive agreement within a month.

Source (Google translator was failing on that site, thanks for the translation M.)

Related posts:

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  2. Olympus E-P3 (PEN 3)
  3. More than one Sony DSLR expected on August 28th
  4. Sony NEX C3 vs. NEX 3 vs. NEX 5 vs. Olympus E-PL2 vs. Panasonic GF2 size comparison
  5. Sony to acquire newly issued Olympus stock

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  • Marvin8

    Smartest thing Olympus could have done. Together, they’ll be a powerhouse.

    • V

      +1
      If Olympus remains really independent. They have both to gain in this partnership:
      Oly knows how to do cameras and lenses, Sony knows how to do sensors!

      • Marvin8

        Yep. Exactly!

      • Ted

        And viewfinders…

    • Palm

      SONY+Ericsson=SONY
      SONY+Konica Minolta=SONY
      SONY+EMI=SONY
      SONY+Olympus=SONY
      actually Sony is in more serious economical slump than Oly. So merging with Sony does not help Oly at all.

      • Sky

        Not really. Sony imaging business (one giving money for this bit) is doing very well. And Oly will get it’s help, no worries – Sony is company with veeeeeery deep pockets :)

  • Johnson C.

    Now, who wan a FF OM-D?

  • dbas

    Wonder what will happen with Oly and Panasonic?

  • Sam

    This may not be a good thing. Sony want Olympus’ profitable medical imaging business. They don’t care about the 4/3′rds stuff nearly as much. If they had done so Olympus would have been snapped up by someone else.

    I predict that we’ll see Olympus cams with Sony technology but no great rebirth. Sony won’t even use the Minolta brand for their best cameras, what are the odds on them elevating Olympus to a position where they can challenge their own offerings?

    • Marvin8

      hmmmmm…..good points.

    • Ragnarok

      Errr… You sound like Sony actually bought Olympus.

    • jake

      you sound like knowing nothing about how this extremely complicated capital merging or partnership is going behind the news reported here.
      first off ,this is still just a rumor, there is sill some possibility that Oly goes with a medical company called ,”Telmo” .

      and even if Oly decides to go with Sony , Oly has the one to actually decide it not Sony.

      Sony has no power over Oly’s camera division but Sony wants to establish a medical subsidery with Oly to do some CT,dosescope and other medical business and Sony wants to set it as one of a few core buzs of it in very near future.

      So, it is nothing to do with M4/3 or E, but establishing of a new company.

      One thing we can easily predict from this news event is that Oly might have to quit its compact camera business and Sony might use this(as an excuse) to terminate the A mount business very soon as this may justify them to do it without having to lose a lot of faith from their very loyal customers.

      Sony never says in English or any other language but many times said in Japanese that Sony actually wants to focus on E mount business and it sees more future in mirrorless system not in D-SLR or SLT.

  • Pablo Ricasso

    Solympus?

  • AM

    Sonympus!

  • Steve

    They have both made big mistakes in regards to DSLR photography. Olympus went with four thirds which has essentially failed so far to produce equivalent results to APSC although the OMD looks very good and Sony have gone SLT which is also a failure at this stage relative to APS-C. It wont effect me because as an English speaker in Japan I try to avoid the Japanese menu only cameras from Sony and the Japanese plus Baltic and Nordic language menu cameras from Olympus. As for any benefit Olympus would get from Sony!!! The Panasonic four thirds sensors are improving all the time and I doubt Sony will make much of an improvement. I would prefer Olympus going with Panasonic.

    • jake

      hi Steve.

      They have both made big mistakes in regards to DSLR photography.

      Right to me , the Sony’s mistake is more annoying and I hope Oly keeps independence or goes with Telmo or Fuji , Sony is the worst one to partner with,imo.

      >Olympus went with four thirds which has essentially failed so far to produce equivalent results to APSC although the OMD looks very good and Sony have gone SLT which is also a failure at this stage relative to APS-C.

      right and the A99v is much more expensive than the D600 , so if the A99v did not have really huge IQ advantage over the D600, it would be a big fail again.

      > It wont effect me because as an English speaker in Japan I try to avoid the Japanese menu only cameras from Sony and the Japanese plus Baltic and Nordic language menu cameras from Olympus. As for any benefit Olympus would get from Sony

      well, Steve you get English menu in the OM-D and any Oly here in Japan.
      but Sony’s Japanese menu only in JPN model NEX is quite annoying.

  • 103david

    Do the Yakuza count as partners?

    • Steve

      I think they are more into making money than photography arent they!!

    • Steve

      The Yakuza prefer making money to photography I think. So these two companies are not on their radar.

      • Nawksnai

        Yakuza do NOT want to be photographed….

  • Bernard

    SONY

    OLYMPUS

    LOONY’M'PUSSY

    They just don’t go together…

  • http://twitter.com/#!/ZDP189 ZDP-189

    I have this vision of two lovers, neither of whom can swim, holding hands and looking into each others’ eyes as they sink into the gloom of a dark lake by moonlight.

    • Huggs

      Beautifully morbid. :D

    • jake

      as a OMD and Alpha user , I hope not but I actually see the identical story….

      I might have to sell my Om-D.

  • timon

    “In order to leverage Olympus’s business of digital cameras, which is in a slump (literally: 不振), ”

    In order to leverage Olympus’s business of digital cameras, which is in slump continuing,

    In order to reinforce Olympus’s business of digital camera, which is continuing in a slump,

    • timon

      Olympus must walk out and is no longer in 4/3 format limits, if it wanted to break away from a continual slump. Sony is unlikely to become another 4/3 sensor manufacturer, which is now a very limited of number clients. Panasonic has himself 4/3 sensor.

      • Sky

        Possibly the best scenario for Oly would be to start producing NEX and Alpha lenses along with releasing some bodies of different form-factor then these Sony makes (Sony goes for portability, Oly should go for retro-looks).

        This way everyone would benefit, as the m4/3 will end up as a sinking boat as same as 4/3 did.

  • jake

    actually Sony is in more serious economical slump than Oly.
    So merging with Sony does not help Oly at all.

    • Sky

      1. Not at all, Sony got by far more financial resources then either Oly or even: Nikon for that matter.
      2. There is no merger. It’s just joined development. There’s a huge difference between these two

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