After a great deal of suspense, anticipation and even impatience among Nikon users, Nikon finally unveiled the D3 and the D300 on Aug. 23. But a question was immediately asked: How about the new Coolpixes, particularly the successor to the P5000?

As shown by the chronology below, Nikon’s Coolpix introductions OFTEN occurred in February-March and August-September in recent years. Moreover, during the same timeframe, new dSLRs and Coolpixes were USUALLY announced separately (exceptions are marked with asterisks).

Looking at the overall pattern of recent years and the financial reports released by the company earlier this year, I think we can safely assume that new Coolpix models will be introduced soon – between now and the end of September.

As I noted in my updated Aug. 21 post “How Healthy Is Nikon?”:

>> Its sales of compact cameras amounted to 7.11 million units in fiscal 2006 and 5.92 million units in fiscal 2007 – a 16.7 percent drop ... in Coolpix sales that occurred in the same year that operating income from imaging products as a whole went up by 33 percent ... .

>> What’s interesting is that Nikon expects to boost Coolpix sales by 26.7 percent, to 7.7 million units (updated), in fiscal 2008, which will end in March. This means it will have to sell a lot more Coolpixes in the next seven months. It cannot possibly do this with the current lineup of Coolpix models, some of which have been discontinued – which further means that the company will have to unveil several dramatically appealing new models in the immediate future if it is going to have any chance to achieve its 2008 sales goal for this group of cameras. ...

To read the rest of my Aug. 21 post, click on this link:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1007&message=24460990


NIKON CAMERA INTRODUCTIONS

(Source: Digital Photography Review’s Camera Database)

1997

Jan. 3 – Coolpix 300
Jan. 20 – 100

1998

March 16 – 900, 600
Oct. 25 – 900S

1999

Feb 15 – 950, 700
JUNE 15 – D1
Sept. 27 – 800

2000

Jan. 27 – 990
Aug. 28 – 880

2001

FEB. 5 – D1x, D1H
April 25 – 995, 775
Aug. 23 – 885
Sept. 18 – 5000

2002

FEB. 21* – 2500, D100
May 29 – 2000, 4500, 5700
Aug. 29 – 4300
Sept. 19 – 3500

2003

Feb. 18 – 2100, 3100, SQ
May 28 – 5400
JULY 22 – D2H
Oct. 28 – 3700

2004

Jan. 8 – 2200, 3200
JAN. 28* – 8700, D70
Feb. 12 – 4200, 5200
May 28 – 4100
SEPT. 16* – 4800, 8400, 8800, D2x

2005

FEB. 16* – 4600, 5600, 5900, 7600, 7900, D2Hs
March 16 – S1
APRIL 20 – D50, D70s
May 18 – S2
Sept. 1 – L1, S3, S4, P1, P2
NOV. 1 – D200

2006

Feb. 21 – L2, L3, L4, S5, S6, P3, P4
JUNE 1 – D2Xs
Aug. 9 – D80
Aug. 24 – L5, L6, S7c, S9, S10
NOV. 16 – D40

2007

Feb. 20 – L10, L11, L12, S50, S50c, S200, S500, P5000
MARCH 6 – D40x
AUG. 23 – D300, D3

I fear a successor to the P5000 will not be among the new Coolpix models that will be announced soon. I hope I’m wrong.

Cheers,
Noy