Canon admits: We haven’t sold as many EOS-M cameras as expected…
Dpreview posted an interview with Masaya Maeda Managing Director at Canon. And he just said two interesting things about the EOS-M system
1) The Canon EOS-M didn’t sell as expected, but has good market shares in Japan and South-East Asia
2) Nevertheless there will be new lenses for the EOS-M system within 2013.
And one more prediction comes from MR-Maeda: There will be “an increase in the number of full-frame models”. Sure about it Mr. Maeda??? Micro Four Thirds shows us how successful the exact other direction is.
pixypig
4 months ago |that camera is such trash
Mike
4 months ago |So, let me get this straight: everyone has been bitching at Nikon for not putting an APS-C sensor in their mirrorless system… and yet Nikon 1 is the top selling mirrorless camera in Japan, and the Canon APS-C is a failure…
Humm the Internet was wrong the Nikon marketers were right…
Irving
4 months ago |I think there is only one reason why Nikon 1 was selling so well – great deals on J1 and V1 by the end of last year. I would bet that majority of V1 was sold for reduced price, because the price at launch was ridiculous (as is V2 price now).
Al
4 months ago |Good marketing, good performance, and good reviews helped Nikon.
Canon missed the mark this time. I hope they keep trying to get it right. I’m an old Canon user that moved on because they weren’t making the camera I wanted.
iiee
4 months ago |Look the nikon 1 series has a few problems but at the end of the day it has great autofocus performance, compact size and both a wide and a long tele. Now for me m43 is a better compromise than the nikon 1 inch sensor is but at least nikon 1′s can go toe to toe with m43 in performance terms. The eos m? that gets trashed by just about every other mirrorless camera out there in the performance terms
amonle
4 months ago |It may sound easy to say after the fact but I always thought that the Nikon 1 would be a hit. Fanboy/’enthusiast’ types are a minority. Moreover this Canon sits very boringly in the middle of the pack with very little in the way of a unique selling proposition. In fact I had forgotten about it.
Nikon is a DSLR company with a healthy side business of selling compact and now ‘mirrorless’ cameras.
Canon is trying to be many things, over-reaching in the video market after the success of the 5D family and here trying to keep its enthusiast cred while selling to a mass market that couldn’t care less what an APS-C sensor is.
Nikon (and Fuji, and Olympus and Sony) win this round
mockingbird
4 months ago |You can never tust what the m43 fansters on this site say. If you believe them, then canikon will be bankrupt soon and the whole of the world is using mirrorless. I come here to read their comments for laughs, i get a real kick out of reading what new delusions the m43 crowd sell themselves everyday.
caver3d
4 months ago |The fact is the m43 Olympus OM-D E-M5 absolutely kicks Canon’s butt. That is a FACT. Don’t believe me? Check it out on the internet.
Pb
4 months ago |have you played with a EOS-M? the auto focus is slow as using say a 650D in live view, which is probably the worst AF speed of any of the major mirrorless cameras, compared to other mirrorless cameras which have matured, the EOS-M is trash, but nevertheless Canon has to start somewhere….
I think the only reason why Canon was able to sell as many as they did is through having lots of money for advertising and for their brand name and compatbility with Canon DSLR lenses
denim
4 months ago |Two words…Olympus ep1. That model was olympus first and it was shitier.
Sören
4 months ago |You think so?
The E-P1 was state of the art when it hit the market. It was no brilliant camera, but it was something new and it was fun to use.
No, three years later Canon came with a Camera with an AF similar to the ancient E-P1… and the market has changed since then, competition is there. And within this competition, the EOS-M is just mediocre or even worse.
denim
4 months ago |the ep1 was oly first mirrorless and it was what is. the eos m is canons first half hearted camera and it was like the ep1 what it si? whats your point? Canon already has said a million times its skeptical about the mirrorless market, did you expect a mirrorless 1d? di you expect 1d technology in their mirrorless? your enthusiam and bias for your beloved m43 over rules your logic iam afraid. You m43 fansters say oh the eosm is lwo and this and that, i geuss your selective memory has made you forget the first gen m43 crap. Most ppl who buy m43 camera dont by highend lenses, that is a fact, maybe you do, bnut you are not enough for any company to build that sort of system around. mirrorless cameras are also dead in the water with larger lenses nd large teles, so the amount of lenses that can be used on them is limited. but i geuss you will come back and say, no, the big gh3 proves that mirrorless can be bigger and successful…not in my store it aint.
Sören
4 months ago |I don’t get your points. Even if the E-P1 would have been the worst camera of the world, that would be no excuse for Canon. If you come late to a party, you better be good. The Sensor of the EOS-M is not state of the art, the AF is horrible etc.
What is the point of entering the market three years later and learning nothing from the mistakes the competition made? The E-P1 had its flaws. For example, the lack of an EVF was a big “contra” against it. So Olympus reacted with the E-P2 update. Canon could have learned from that and offer an external EVF, but they decided not to do it and introduce a mediocre product to not compete with their own DSLRs.
You can not compare a three years old pioneer camera with a new one in 2012.
Before that I believed in Canon, that they will come late but big, but they didn’t.
Al
4 months ago |Olympus learned a lot from the EP-1 and applied those lessons to the EPL-1. Let’s see if Canon can learn from this proof of concept camera. Canon can do better than this clumsy attempt.
denim
4 months ago |your canon bashing is trash. And most pros, semi pros, intermediats and noobs have already agreed with their purchases.
luka
4 months ago |Somebody should tell him the truth. In a world where the fast shoot and auto focus is the main point, nobody will buy sluggish cameras. Canon is stuck producing great cameras with unbelieveble slow operation.
Vivek
4 months ago |The title sounds too good to be true…wait, it IS TRUE!
Shockingly surprising!
Next, I want to hear the confession from Sony on the Rx1 and from Habbelsad on the sony knockoff.
starfire
4 months ago |If the productmanagers are wondering about sales not as expected:
- The camera is too expensive (same specs like 650D for 200 more???)
- The lenses are too big (like Sony NEX: iphone size camera with HUGE lenses…)
- No range of interesting lenses (wideangle, speed, tele…)
- First body for which group of interest? Not for Pros, not for Upgraders from Compactcameras, not for People who wants small but complete equipment
About myself: I´m using Canon since 1986 now, starting with T90, EOS 10, EOS 5, EOS 3, 20D, 40D and 5DII. I have more then 10 lenses in my bag.
But after Photokina I decided to buy a Pana GH3 with several lenses and I´m very satisfied with the results. The camera is not small, but 3-5 lenses have the size and weight like one 2.8/70-200 for FF…
In my eyes this is the future: Cameras in different sizes, from compact size to SLR size, but small, lightweight AND good lenses…
Gabriel
4 months ago |And now, with the metabones adapter, you can buy a Sonyx Nex, keep all you FF lenses and use it like always.
sneye
4 months ago |If I remember correctly, two years ago Canon stated that it didn’t need a mirrorless system. Now they acknowledge the challenge of filling the EOS-M lens lineup quickly enough. I wouldn’t listen to them too much. They have no clue and those “interviews” only give them the opportunity to exercise their PR skills. Canon is perhaps the least innovative of all camera manufacturers and clearly lost its leading role years ago. Why would you think they can predict market trends better than, say, Sony?
G.
4 months ago |+100
JayBlues
4 months ago |well, Canon can sure make money in the camera bisiness better than Sony or olympus or Panasonic can. This so called ” mirrorless market” world wide is SMALL, cant stress that enough. in fact you should stress that as well. Please dont make it sound like everyone is buy mirrorless and Canon or nikon is last place. The truth is alot different that how you manipulated your views.
Sören
4 months ago |True, the mirrorless market is small, but it is growing.
And you do not need to be a genious to predict that the place of all 650D, D5200 etc. will be occupied by mirrorless products. Now it is not a big problem to have no competetive mirrorless, but soon it will be. Look at Nokia, that is what happens if a manufacturer reacts to late to a changing market.
JayBlues
4 months ago |There you go again, projecting your “wishes” and your ” hopes” and making yourself think that somehow it will become reality. and NO, it;s not a problem not to have mirrorles cameras, that again is also your oppinion, not facts. Maybe mirrorless is more popular in Japan, but not in the rest of the wrold, where it counts more. As for nokia, thats a phone company and you can use endless cases to make your argument. The bottom line is wheter you like it or not, and i presume based on your views that you dont like it, that ps cameras, phone cameras and dslrs are what most people use. Most buyers dont even care or know what sensors are, let alone its size, that massive buying public is where the money is. Most people see the big cameras as more ” pro”, that why most of them buy the dslr when they want to get “serious”. This is whats out there in the world and theres nothing i can say or you can say that can convince them otherwise. Most ppl trust the brand of canon or nikon more than the rest, thats fact, thats not me saying it, its out there by the tonnes of users. Most people have a hard time spening alot of money on a “little ” camera, it’s genetic, its what most ppl percieve as value. If you build a 1d or nikon d4 in a pen body and charge 5k, no one and i mean no one aside from the rich pro or poser would ever buy one. Brand and value is everything.
Sören
4 months ago |Let’s talk again in 5 years.
Sure DSLRs are most popular, because people know that they make (in theory) good pictures. But the perception is changing, more and more people recognize mirrorless as an alternative.
The majority of DSLR shooters use it as a high quality point & shoot, using just the Kit-lense. You do not agree that this niche is very suitable for mirrorless cameras?
Well, you have your opinion and I have mine, lets stay with that.
JayBlues
4 months ago |” most people in theory know that dslrs make good pictures” ? again, another false lie from you to skew the facts.mirorless cameras are just dslrs WITHOUT the MIRROR…period. I’m sure you will come back with more semantics and yell me that it’s not, that somehow because of this and that mirrroless cameras are some how a new breed of cameras.
Second,you said “The majority of DSLR shooters use it as a high quality point & shoot, using just the Kit-lense. You do not agree that this niche is very suitable for mirrorless cameras?” You don’t think the majority of mirrorless users use it a s apoint a shoot? Do you see pros using mirrorless cameras for the msot part on the street?
Third, lets put you mirrorless cameras siade by side with a dslr, lets take the t41 which is 800 give or take, and the ep3,whicvh was 800 give or take,( now dont tell me that the ep3 is NOW 600 or whatever), if you look at them sides by side, what is the normal user to think? Both camera cost the same, one has a ovf, the other does, not, one is larger , one is smaller, one has a swivel screen, the other does not, who do you think the average user will choose? They have already chosen, and the answer is not what you like, i’m afraid. Dont balme the messenger, blame your camera company for not doing enough and overcharging consumer.
emopunk
4 months ago |What a surprise! How came they didn’t sell such sexy and innovative camera? People must have been going mad!
EcoR1
4 months ago |“And one more prediction comes from MR-Maeda: There will be “an increase in the number of full-frame models”. Sure about it Mr. Maeda??? Micro Four Thirds shows us how successful the exact other direction is”
Think again. MFT is popular at the moment, because it has most extensive lens catalog. Othes will catch them. If first models of FF- and APSC-mirrorless were released at the same time with first MFT-cameras, MFT would never gain the kind of popularity is has now.
For example Sony has made the smart move when designing their E-mount, because it’s FF-compatible. In theory Sony could well release their own MFT-image-circle lenses or even smaller for E-mount, if they wanted. Or they could release FF-lenses, which is going to happen next-year. MFT will lose their popularity in the long run, because it’s much more limited with their small mount.
Mike
4 months ago |It will be a battle between MFT and Nikon 1. The small sensors are catching up on IQ and at one point there will be no use for larger sensors. The size of APS-C and FF telezoom lenses is ridiculous, no matter how small the bodies. Their existence is a relic of the past.
Fants
4 months ago |As long as narrow DoF – sorry, erm, LOTS OF BOKEH!1!!!! – remains a huge draw for people, APS-C and FF cameras will be alive and well. And while smaller sensors are indeed improving, so are the bigger ones. A new FF sensor will likely always beat a new m4/3 sensor in terms of DR and SN, and people who don’t mind a bigger camera will still aspire to own a D900, 5D4, A999 etc. Mirrorless will certainly take more and more of the market share, but it’s not like 10 years from now we’re going to have nothing but m4/3 and 1″ sensors.
One place I agree with you is on the tele end, though. Once a smaller-sensor camera (with, say, 1 stop better high ISO performance than the OMD) comes around that can AF as fast and track as well as a good SLR, there will be a lot less point in carrying around that big body and huge zoom.
woof woof
4 months ago |“As long as narrow DoF – sorry, erm, LOTS OF BOKEH!1!!!! – remains a huge draw for people, APS-C and FF cameras will be alive and well.”
IMVHO there’s not a massive difference in DoF between MFT and APS-C and of course you can get that lovely shallow DoF look if that’s what you want by using wide aperture lenses and longer focal length lenses if you’re willing to change your camera to subject distance/FoV. I can get lovely shallow DoF from MFT using 25mm f0.95, 55mm f1.7 and even 135mm f3.5.
Shallow DoF is a dual edged sword though. When you’re struggling to keep your ISO down and your shutter speed up you may be pushed towards shooting with wider apertures than you’d like and in some situations you could end up, for example, with a portrait shot with one eye in focus and the other out. That’s fine if that’s the look you wanted but if you want both eye’s in focus a smaller sensor and a shorter focal length could be a help. For example FF+50mm lens at f1.4 v MFT+25mm lens at f1.4. For the same FoV and exposure the MFT will give you a bit more DoF and you may get both eyes in the DoF.
woof woof
4 months ago |yada yada yada, propaganda im a m43 fanboyanda. Try to be more original and while youre at it, stop BS’ing.
James
4 months ago |This doesn’t surprise me as it’s a totally uninspiring camera system with no real innovation. The NEX cameras are growing strength to strength, but they have genuinely useful innovative features, great sensors and we are now looking forwards to FF models. Yes, FF will always have a place, because you can get better subject isolation and nicer rendition at wider angles, etc. I have no problem at all with my NEX-6 in terms of sensor quality, and I love the size, but the one thing it can’t replace my 5Dmkii for at the moment is just the DOF and sheer ISO performance (a 35mm 1.8 will never be a 50mm 1.4, for example). I wish people would understand this aspect of how an image LOOKS, which is solely a function of frame size vs. focal length.
beauty queen
4 months ago |yeah right totally not expectable that shitty camera for high price didn’t sell well. lol
Mars Observer
4 months ago |The first EOS-M body was apparently ‘made for women’.
I’ve got to ask though… do (many) women buy interchangeable lens cameras??
My guess is the majority of the market for these cameras are men, and the smaller demographic of women who *do* buy ILC’s want a more serious camera as well.
Canon’s biggest error is in waiting too long to launch a more serious/robust ILC camera and lenses. They simply don’t understand the ILC market.
Tim
4 months ago |Well, from personal experience based on those I see actually using cameras the majority of ILC owners are women. But you are totally correct indeed that they want something more serious than the Eos M.
JayBlues
4 months ago |there is no hurry. Canon and nikon know this is a tiny market worldwide, mirrorless, that is. The eos m the canon first mirrorless, and its alot better than olympus first mirrorless, the ep1. Or have you m43 fans forgotten how god awful and slow and noisy the ep1 was? You can talk and sawy all you want, Canon and nikon will always get what they truly want, sooner or later. The mirrorless market outside of japan is not lucrative enough. When you see most ppl using dslrs, ps cameras , you know the mirrorless market isnt as big as you think. The king never bothers with going uner the table for the scraps, that is left to the kings dogs…in this casem, oly and panny and the rest of them
Llamaman
4 months ago |But Canon aren’t releasing the EOS-M 3 1/2 years ago, it’s on the market now and needs to compete with today’s other offerings.
There’s no technical reason for it being so poor (it’s using the same sensor they have in their APS-C DSLRs so they must know how to get the best out of it) – it was just a half-baked effort. The risk for them is that a poor reception for early models will put people off later models when(if) Canon decide to take this market sector seriously. By contrast, the Olympus E-P1 was well-received at the time as it was a game-changer. The EOS-M is on the subs bench.
JayBlues
4 months ago |there is a reason why the eos m is the way it is..and no, its is not as poor as you make it out to be. You could say its slower to focus then a ep3, but its got better dynamic range, have you thought about that?
you want canon to make a game changer. ok lets take up your rgument. suppose canon makes your dream irrorless camera for ya, suppose theuy get all that mirrorless market….and how much of the overall camera market is mirrorless? heres the answer…not very big. So…if you ran a business, would you spend 100 million to make back 100 million? And even if such a camera where to be made, you think the pros or semi pros would lug an eos m size body with a 500mm2.8 lens? You think any noob will fork out more money just cause canon mirrorless cameras are better then the rest? You must think money grows on trees.
I have a hard time convining MOST of my customers to spend over 900 on a entry level dslr, let alone a tiny mirrorless. Aside fomr large online retailers like bh, most stores do not even stock alot of pano, oly, sony mirrorles..why? Because they dont sell as well as the other cameras, thats why. a mirrorless ilc is just a dslr without a mirror, period. that isnt new tech, thats called taking something away and charging you more cause its smaller. Back where I come from ppl pay less for less, not more for less.
Llamaman
4 months ago |I think there’s a growing market for women wanting ILCs – but I suspect they’re more likely to go for something smaller and lighter – i.e. MFT or Nikon 1.
I’ve seen a few women with ILCs – most have been N1 or MFT, plus a few NEXs – but not a single EOS-M.
The other problem with the EOS-M is that the lack of native lenses mean that it’s main appeal is as a second body for people who already have a Canon DSLR and selection of lenses – which isn’t the demographic they claim they’re aiming for.
woof woof
4 months ago |and now it’s lack of native lenses. How many lenses did the firt 43 camera have? You fansters..seem to look for every little thing to bash canon.You can find weaknesses in every brand..and I’ll tell you ..m43 has ALOT more weaknesses.
woof woof
4 months ago |Site Admin – This sad little clown is not me. Can this idiot be banned somehow?
Renato S.
4 months ago |Canon has been digging themselves for some time now, playing safe, but their boat will end up sinking for lack of guts and real innovation
denim
4 months ago |wishful thinking, fanoy. the real pros will tel you other waise…so will most camera users. if you didnt sound like such a delusional fanboy, it would be a little convincing.
Jeff
4 months ago |And what is he a fanboy of? All he did was give an opinion against Canon, not praise another. You are nothing but a hurt Canon fanboy, maybe even just a fantard.
JayBlues
4 months ago |diigng themsleves” ship end up sinking” If i was some noob and ididnt know better, i swear youre saying that canon is about to go under. But that my friend, is hardly the truth. Your wishful thinking and your zealous love for all things m43 or non canikon is really polluting your mind. And if you read your won comments you would agree, the fact is canikon is still the big 2, and if you want to help your cause, you best start is to stop belieiving in your wishful but fualty biased views.
Llamaman
4 months ago |Canon will be around for plenty of time yet – there’s an awful lot of Canon SLRs out there and I don’t foresee a mass exodus any time soon.
But I wouldn’t be surprised if they really scale back their compact camera offerings and it’s probably only pride/embarassment that will stop them scrapping the EOS-M. I think Nikon got their ILC mostly right (it’s not my cup of tea but I can see where they’re going with it) and Canon got theirs very wrong.
They’ve got a lot of ground to cover if they want to get to where NEX and MFT are already. They’ve got the technical know-how and the resources, but there needs to be a concerted push to do so – and for a company with a healthy SLR market I suspect that ILC is only a distraction for them, unlike Panasonic and Olympus for whom this is their top-end stuff (yes, I know Olympus have 4/3 too, but it looks like they effectively abandoned it years ago).
Daniel
4 months ago |No WOnder – when you expected nothing
))
Gokhan
4 months ago |What a hilarious title! Canon M is at least 2 years too late the game, and they expect it to sell like hotcakes?? I would even argue the future is about small & high-quality. Small as represented by u4/3 (not by Sony NEX or EOS M); high quality as represented by FF DSLR and/or mirrorless. I’m a happy user of both. I see *zero reason* to switch from u4/3 to Canon APS-C mirrorless. If I want better quality, I just pick up my FF DSLR. Heck, even Thom Hogan does the same.
Steve
4 months ago |I always thought µ43 Users are a little bitchy, but those two EOS-M defenders (denim and JayBlues) are even worse
Tester
4 months ago |Maeda San director of canon imaging admits:Yes- the canon 5D was our last meaningfull innovation, since than our creative camera engineers have left to Nikon, Fuji and Sony + Olympus, our Sensor experts went to Sony and Toshiba for just a view yen more, ony the marketing guys and economists remained in their positions.
The sensor engineers had to be replaced by chinese ones, who sincever are copying the sensor designes from 8 years ago again and again and photo cameras are not needed anymore, pseudo video full frame cameras are our future.
I can forsee millions of family fathers taking videos with our new 4K stuff, why buy a car when you can have a Canon Video machine !
The brilliant design of the fantastic M came on when one of our managers washed his hands with a piece of soap, can anything be shaped better?
woof woof
4 months ago |“yada yada yada, propaganda im a m43 fanboyanda. Try to be more original and while youre at it, stop BS’ing.”
SITE ADMIN – I am the real woof woof and whoever wrote this drivel isn’t me. I assume there’s some sort of security issue? Or is anyone allowed to log in using any name?
This is all rather worrying….
woof woof
4 months ago |REALLY? Didnt know you patented and got a copyright for the name ” woof Woof” .What’s next, are you going to say only you can use the word “camera”
Why don’t we all file a copyright on names, I call patent on “every single name out there in the world.”
woof woof
4 months ago |Site Admin… I hope that you can ban this clown.
And to the clown… I assume you’re about 13 years old and rather an odd and sad little person?
MA
4 months ago |Canon EOS M is a disaster: sloooooow auto-focus, hard to handle, and small dynamic range to name some of the major problems with it. Canon has a long way to go to match Sony or Olympus.
lucavascon
4 months ago |The only one mature system is the micro4/3, fullstop.
Nikon, Canon arrived late, with heavily outdated projects refurbishad and put on the market. They assume they are always right, I do think they are so distant from users and market, they assume they can dictate what we must want and must need. Pentax got trendy and fashion, they made an ARCHITECT design a camera. Last done by Walter Teague for the Bantam Special. Economic, they remove the mirror, make a nonsense body and reuse all the lenses. Sony made more bodies than lenses… crap lenses I have to say. A lot of noise for nothing. They are exeptionally good with old lenses, by the way. RX1 and RX100 do remember us sony is an hydra with many heads, some of those are functioning, some others are not. This is the case decisions were made and were clear, cameras with guts, no compromise, modern thinking of iconic, classic concepts.
Fuji made the effort of putting CONTENTS on the table. Real contents like good bodies, good lenses, innovative sensors, but very old overall concept, and fashion – snob – retro kind of target.
Olympus is all the “CAMERA” you can put in the most balanced, modern, confortable and easy-to-handle packaging. Tha balance is so good, that even the old ones with outdated sensor and slow AF are far more cameras than EOS-M
kuishinbou
4 months ago |They haven’t sold as many EOS-M as they expected, because they are naive and it is a piece of crap!!!
If they were to bring out something innovative and sexy, like Fuji has, I would have been impressed. If they were to introduce a sexy, retro-styled, mirrorless camera with at least an APS-C sized sensor (I know the EOS-M has that), with an excellent selection of fast prime and zoom lenses, then they would sell very well. Instead, they brought out a point-and-shoot look-a-like that feels like a brick, performs like a piece of crap, and has inferior image quality. If they would just take the mirrorless market (as well as the market below the 5D mkiii) serious, and provide highly competitive cameras, which they haven’t, then they would do very well. If they don’t, they will lose their customer base, like me, as I am not going to buy another Canon camera unless it is better than the competition; and, I don’t think I will be buying another DSLR, as the mirrorless cameras are becoming much better these days, and there will be great options within a year or two that can replace my DSLR.
So, Canon, if you want people to continue buying your products, then stop wasting your time producing crap like the EOS-M! Give the market something new that is competitive, sexy, and with exceptional image quality!
Miroslav
4 months ago |I wouldn’t call this an interview, rather an inert view. The claim that there’s no space for anything between APS-C and 1/2.33″ sounds like it’s coming frome someone outside of digital camera business.
Beduin
4 months ago |What did you expect Canon? Giving us a piece of rubbish and watching us swallow it. No way!
lorenzino
4 months ago |Well, when we talk about cameras and different markets, we should say “outside Japan AND China”.
This changes everything.
Did you notice that Japanese companies (esp. Panasonic, and recently also Nikon and Canon) care less and less about the USA and Europe?
Al
4 months ago |Patience is the key when it comes to deals.
It wasn’t until recently that I’ve seen reason to move beyond the EPL-1. The OM-D or the EPL5 will be my next purchase unless I jump to the Fuji X100s.
I prefer the VF2 or VF3 over an internal because of the ability to tilt the VF. Let’s see what the EP-5 will offer. A built in tilt able VF would be ideal.
lorenzino
4 months ago |mmh, I think I got lost between your “outside” “inside” Japan. What do you actually mean to say?
Apart that for the Asian market m43 equipment is all but overpriced, with the exception of new high-end models (e.g. EM5). Until few months ago an epl3 could be bought heavily discounted for 300 dollars circa, lens included. This is the price of a decent compact camera, but the IQ output goes well beyond that. This is why so many persons not so interested in photography are actually buying into m43 basic kits. In fact here in Japan you see oly m43 wherever, and China is following the trend. Sure the problem for Olympus is share, as the price is too low to make a profit on units sold. This is why they are pushing high end models à la em5. Still, mirrorless is taking over in Asia, and the prevision is that during 2013 only in China tens and tens of milions of mirrorless kits will be sold. The strategy is to replace the idea of the “big” reflex with the one of a small tool for going everywhere. Why should Canon and Nikon beware? Because people buying into mirrorless kits will not buy reflex kits, no matter how more performant they are. Mirrorless sales will probably never harm semi-pro FF camera sales, but will certainly be a problem for low-end kits (à la Nikon 3200, or similar Canon offering), and in the long run for all apsc compartment.
I think Nikon and Canon better react somehow: either by introducing mirrorless systems fully compatible with their apsc lenses, or by lowering prices and adding more innovation into low-end dslrs, or by strenghtening the lens offering of apsc systems, e.g. introducing more f 2.8 and f 4 zooms designed for apsc.