Yearly sales statistics from Japan

It's time for the yearly sales statistics from Japan (from BCN Ranking). Here's the list of the 20 most sold system camera units, comprising DSLRs and mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. I have included 2009 and 2008 for reference.

To make the table more readable, I have categorized the cameras into systems. This makes the following table, with slightly different principles going from 2006-2010. However, it still shows some clear trends:

Nikon had a good market penetration with the Nikon D40 back in 2006, however, since that time they have not been able to sustain the market share. These must be depressing statistics for Nikon.

Canon have been successful in the competition against Nikon the last years, however, in 2010 even they have seen a decline in market share. A decline which seems to have gone to the mirrorless cameras: Sony never got their DSRLs into the market as they wanted, but they've seen a much better penetration with the new Sony NEX mirrorless series.

And for the Micro Four Thirds cameras made by Olympus and Panasonic, the growth continues. From the monthly statistics, we can see that the Olympus E-P2 never was a big seller. It's predecessor, the E-P1, is still on the list of the twenty most selling cameras. People appear to prefer the E-PL1 (with built a in flash), or the E-P1 (for a lower price, at the end of it's product cycle).

Pentax are still succeeding well with their strategy of launching feature packed entry models at a reasonable price.