Canon Inc., the Tokyo-based consumer electronics firm, is buying U.K. startup Kite, a company that helps people order photo albums, mugs or phone cases customized with images from their smartphone cameras.
Eighty-year-old Canon, best known for printers and cameras, has struggled to stay relevant to consumers as photo taking has shifted away from stand-alone digital cameras to smartphones. Its revenue from cameras declined to ¥667.5 billion ($6 billion) last year from ¥970.3 billion in 2013.
Today, 90 percent of all personal snapshots are taken on mobile phones, said Alberto Spinelli, the senior director of digital services at Canon Europe.