The IXY model sold well without steep discounts,

The silicon cycle has been in a downtrend since late last year.

What pulled us back in the fourth quarter was office equipment.

What pulled us back in the fourth quarter was office equipment. The color copiers market faced more- than-expected competition and inkjet printers also had bigger- than-anticipated price competition.

Uchida is to be credited as the one who made our digital camera business into what we have now. The appointment is based on the leadership he's shown.

While prices of basic materials surged and competition got challenging, sales of our digital cameras and laser beam printers grew strongly on the back of strong price competitiveness, allowing us to achieve a record-breaking performance.

He is a man of merit who boosted (Canon's) camera division to the current position from a fairly low rank in the industry.

If it hadn't been for this, we would have maintained our profit growth momentum. Our business hasn't worsened.

We have had to lower the price of some of our products, but the downward pressure on prices has weakened a little bit in the third quarter, compared to what we had expected beforehand.

We also worked hard on costs and managed to limit rises in sales, general and administrative costs to the growth pace of sales, which helped pump up top-line (operating) profit.