Canon leads in digicam shipments in 2006 -report

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TOKYO, April 3 (Reuters) - Canon Inc. (7751.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) won the top market share in global digital camera shipments in 2006, and South Korea's Samsung Electronics (005930.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) jumped up the ranks to 5th place from 9th a year ago, researcher IDC said on Tuesday.

Tokyo-based Canon shipped 19.7 million digital cameras in 2006, accounting for 18.7 percent of the overall market. Canon's shipments jumped 23.3 percent from 2005, IDC said.

Industrywide digital camera shipments in 2006 rose 14.5 percent to 106 million units from a year earlier, driven by the strong popularity of single-lens reflex (DSLR) models geared for photo enthusiasts and professionals and growing demand in emerging markets, IDC said.

DSLR shipments grew 39 percent to 5 million units last year.

Sony Corp. (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) was No. 2 in the market with a 15.8 percent share, up from 15.2 percent in 2005, benefiting from its entry into the DSLR market, IDC said.

Eastman Kodak (EK.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the only U.S. company among the top five digital camera makers, ranked third with 10 percent, a drop from its 14.2 percent share a year earlier. Olympus Corp. (7733.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which came in fourth, trimmed its share to 8.6 percent from 9.8 percent in 2005.

"The big winner in 2006 was Samsung, who displaced Nikon and became the fifth-largest seller of digital cameras in the world," said Christopher Chute, an IDC analyst.