Incoming Olympus president Hiroyuki Sasa has expressed a desire to cut back the company's camera line in an attempt to return to profitability. In an interview with the Japan Times, Sasa confirmed interest from several firms in the possibility of a partnership, but said that the company was still "studying various possibilities and scenarios." Sasa indicated that the company's camera portfolio was too expansive, and singled out its compact cameras in particular as an area where savings could be made.

This wouldn't come as a surprise to us — while Olympus has been largely instrumental in driving the success of mirrorless cameras, its less expensive point-and-shoot offerings tend to be fairly uninspiring, and it's no secret that that segment of the market as a whole is drying up in the face of smartphone competition. There's probably scope for the company to cut down on its mirrorless camera range as well, with a fairly dizzying assortment of PENs already out there and a whole new product line being kicked off by the OM-D EM-5.