Nikon's third fiscal quarter results have been posted, and the news is continued good. Yes, stepper sales have improved, which helps the overall bottom line a lot because even small increases in unit sales volume there bring large increases to the company's overall profits.
But the Imaging Products division is the bigger part of the company now, and it too is showing improvements from what were already pretty good results. For the first three quarters of this year versus last, here are the important camera numbers (financial values are in yen):
| Item | 3Qs 2006 | 3Qs 2007 | Increase |
| Total Sales | 314.1b | 343.2b | 9.3% |
| Operating Income | 29.5b | 39.5b | 33.9% |
| DSLR units | 1,030,000 | 1,430,000 | 38.8% |
| Coolpix units | 5,450,000 | 4,660,000 | -14.5% |
Short interpretation: rapid increase of DSLR sales pushed up operating income, decrease in Coolpix sales meant total sales didn't do as well.
The thing to watch in Nikon's forward numbers (estimates for year-end) is for significant changes in unit volume moving forward, as it sometimes presages new product. For example, Nikon sold 570,000 DSLRs in their 3rd quarter and now expect to sell 620,000 in the 4th. That number could be read two ways: current volume will stay about the same and another new DSLR will sneak into the end of the quarter to increase volume; or: the D40, D80, and D200 are doing so well that they'll continue to pick up some volume during this quarter. The Coolpix numbers are more revealing: 1,260,000 units in the 3rd quarter just closed but 1,840,000 units in the 4th quarter we're in? That means new Coolpix models are right around the corner.