Japan imaging expo hoping for 50,000 visitors

Organisers of the new CP+ camera and photo imaging show to be held in Japan later this month are expecting around 50,000 visitors to attend the event.

The Camera & Imaging Products Association said the goal of “CP+” is to create a new international photographic industry exhibition - “something comparable to Photokina in Germany or PMA in the USA, which proves to be an ideal platform for camera equipment manufacturers, component/device suppliers and software developers alike to present their products/technologies on a global scale and to search for untapped business opportunities.”

While official figures have yet to be released, PMA’s US show attracts around 20,000 visitors while Germany’s Photokina’s previous event in 2008 drew more than 170,000 attendees.The annual CES Show in Las Vegas attracts around 100,000 visitors.

Together with three other industry organizations, CIPA previously co-owned a series of Photo Imaging Expo (PIE) events that were held in Japan over the past five years, but the event ceased in March 2009.

CIPA expects to attract 60 exhibitors inaugural event, to be held in Yokohama from March 11 to 14. Exhibitors include, Epson, Olympus, Casio, Canon, Sigma, Sony, Nikon, Panasonic, Tamron, FUJIFILM, Hoya, Kenko and Ricoh.

PIN Online comment: 2010 could be the make or break year for photo imaging exhibition organisers, who are facing a number of challenges thrown up by rapidly-changing technology and an expanding online retailing environment.

Canon USA’s decision not to exhibit at PMA in Anaheim indicated a lessening of support for the specialist channel but Canon explained that the decision to bow out of PMA 2010 resulted from "changes in the industry."

Canon USA's general manager Eliott Peck told a US trade magazine last September: "We find that product life cycles are moving so much faster and that product introductions are happening in such shorter time frame that we needed to be much more agile. And we find that trade shows are very locked into specific times which somewhat limits what we want to do."

Canon did exhibit at the much bigger CES Show in January, which presented a much broader and more integrated range of digital technologies.

The days of photo trade shows being the platform for new camera launches are fading because new technology waits for no-one, least of all annual expos. PMA Australia’s decision to re-position its June show as the Digital Life Expo highlights the necessity for imaging industry to have a seat at the biggest game in town – the digital technology revolution. – Barrie Parsons