Canon Inc. and Nikon Corp. want to move their digital single-lens reflex camera businesses onto a path of higher sustained growth through friendly rivalry, despite their neck-and-neck race for No. 1 in the world ahead of next year's Beijing Olympics, the companies' presidents said in recent interviews.
"Technology will not improve if there is only one leading company," Canon President Tsuneji Uchida said at the company's Tokyo head office Dec. 14.
Nikon President Michio Kariya said in a separate interview Dec. 13 his Tokyo-based company has no intention of competing head-on with Canon in the fast-growing global market for digital SLR cameras.