Canon today announced that it has reached a new milestone by shipping its 100 millionth compact digital camera.
Canon first began producing digital cameras in 1996 at Oita Canon Inc., which continues to handle the bulk of the company's digital camera production, in addition to such manufacturing subsidiaries as Canon Opto (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. and Canon Zhuhai, Inc. in China.

Since releasing the PowerShot 600 (photo) as Canon's first compact digital camera for sale to the general public in July 1996, the company has thus far launched a total of 106 digital camera models across the globe.

Featuring a compact body and stylish design, the IXY Digital (PowerShot S100 Digital ELPH or Digital IXUS in other regions) was introduced in May 2000 and proved immensely popular among consumers around the world for its portability and user friendliness, representing the vanguard for the rapidly expanding digital camera market. Following this success, Canon went on to sell a variety of digital cameras, including the PowerShot A70 in 2003, which rode its superior functionality and cost performance to the world's highest unit sales among models in the year; the sleek and stylish IXY Digital L (PowerShot SD10 Digital ELPH or Digital IXUS i) in 2003 targeted at women users; the PowerShot G7 in 2006, which carved a niche for high-end models in the compact digital camera market; and the PowerShot S5 IS in 2007, featuring a powerful optical zoom and high-precision image stabilization.

Canon dominates the digital camera topseller list on Amazon since a long time. Now wonder that the company already shipped 100 million cameras in 12 years.