BenQ on March 30 announced the immediate launch of what it claims is the world's slimmest digital camera with a thickness of 14.9mm. The T700 has a recommended retail price of NT$10,990 (US$333).
BenQ has upward adjusted its 2007 shipment goal for digital cameras from 60,000 units originally to 100,000, rising by 120% from the shipment volume posted in 2006, the company indicated. As such, BenQ aims to be among the top five brands in the Taiwan market for the year, the company pointed out.
The Taiwan digital camera market has reached a saturation of 850,000-950,000 units in annual sales volume, with Sony, Canon and Nikon being the top three brands for a combined share of 50-60%, and Panasonic, Casio, Fujifilm and Samsung being second-tier brands, according to industry sources. In addition, Japanese brands, including Pentax, Casio and Fujifilm, have offered low-price digital camera models for sale at NT$7,000-8,000 since last quarter, the sources indicated. Under the situation, BenQ and other leading Taiwan brands are faced with strong price competition and therefore it is not easy for BenQ to jump into the top five brands, the sources pointed out.
| BenQ T700 digital camera: Specifications | |
| Lens/resolution | 1/2.5-inch CCD image sensor; 7.2-megapixel |
| Screen | 3.0-inch 230,000-pixel LTPS LCD touch panel |
| Zoom | 3x optical, 4x digital |
| Storage capacity | Built-in 18MB, plus external SD card of up to 2GB |
| Dimension (W×H×D, mm) | 91×59×16.9 (14.9 at thinnest part) |
| Weight | 120g (not including battery) |
Source: BenQ, compiled by DigiTimes.com, March 2007
BenQ T700 is available in four colors
Photo: Company
