Nikon President Eyes Smartphone Users as Compact Sales Fall

Nikon Corp. is looking at ways to tap smartphone growth as a slump in compact camera sales may lead to weaker-than-forecast earnings.

Point-and-shoot camera sales across the industry dropped about a quarter in April and May from a year earlier, President Makoto Kimura said in a July 4 interview at Nikon’s Tokyo headquarters, citing third-party research. Smartphone shipments jumped 46 percent last year to 722 million units, according to Framingham, Massachusetts-based IDC Corp.