Canon 'Historic Global Announcement' Coming 3 November

UPDATE 04/11/2011: Canon has now made its 'historic global announcement'. Check out the details here.

Engadget has published an intriguing invitation recently received from Canon, promising nothing less than an 'historic global announcement'!

And to top things off, the event is being held in the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.

Place Your Bets!

Does the fact that Canon is holding the event in Hollywood have some kind of cinematographic significance? Do the four coloured lights hint at some kind of video projector? Or are the different colours of light being split by some kind of lens, perhaps a hybrid camera lens?


As well as the potential clues in Canon's invitation, there are plenty of other possibilities to mull over, as this particular manufacturer's research and development activities cover all kinds of fields, some of which you couldn't even guess at. For example, did you know that Canon has been working on developing robots? That's something we saw first hand when we visited the firm's R&D labs in Japan. Other weird and wonderful prototypes include a camera with a built-in photo printer (see above) and futuristic devices like these augmented reality glasses. Plus, Canon already has the technology to make 4K screens and presented a glasses-free 3D screen no less than 10 years ago! On top of that, the firm has been working on a CMOS camera sensor that captures six rather colours than three colours and an instant inkjet printing system, printing an A4 photo in under a second.

On the other hand, maybe Canon is tired of seeing its camera business being slowly eaten away by smartphones. Cameras in mobiles like the Samsung Galaxy S II have come on leaps and bounds since the first camera phones arrived on the market, and we'd be surprised if the likes of Canon, Nikon and Panasonic didn't fight back in some way.

Anyway, as far as we're concerned it's about time we had an historic announcement to shake up the market a bit—let's just hope Canon doesn't disappoint!

Let us know what you think Canon has got up its sleeve in the DigitalVersus forum.



> Buyer's Guides: Our Pick of The Best Products