News of the Day: Canon's Profits Triple Thanks to SLR Camera & Office Equipment Sales

July 9 (Reuters) – Japan’s Canon Inc is likely to post a near three-fold jump in its group operating profit for the January-June period, boosted by better-than-expected sales of digital single-lens reflex cameras and laser printers, the Nikkei business daily reported.

The digital camera and office equipment maker’s group operating profit for the first half is expected to be up 180 percent at about 182 billion yen ($2.07 billion), the daily said.

Full-year sales are seen up 15 percent at around 1.7 trillion yen, helped by brisk demand for entry-level digital SLR cameras and strong sales in China, the daily said.

Renewed spending on information technology by clients helped the office equipment division, which struggled a year earlier, it said.

Canon’s gross profit margin likely returned to levels from before the financial crisis, the daily said.

For the full year ending in December, sales are forecast to rise 17 percent to about 3.75 trillion yen, with operating profit predicted to surge 66 percent to about 360 billion yen, the daily said.

(Reporting by Shailesh Kuber in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)

Decision 2010 ft LeBron James & Dan Gilbert: The Most Shocking Sports Event of the Year (So Far)

Joe Johnson re-signing for a max deal in ATL? No surprise. Paul Pierce & Dirk Nowitzki taking less money to play at home? No surprise. Amar'e Stoudemire choosing to sign with the only team who outright offered a 5-yr max deal despite his health history? Not that surprising when you put it that way, either. Canada & Toronto's own Chris Bosh choosing to flee the land of the free to be somewhere warmer alongside legitimate superstar Dwayne Wade? C'mon, we all knew this was coming - we just didn't know which team it would be, and we didn't know Bosh would act like such an attention-hungry prima donna in the process.

After Wade & Bosh announced their decision, LeBron James followed with an absolutely-unprecedented 1-hr live ESPN extravaganza where James announced that he would, a la 17-yr old Kobe Bryant declaring for the pros straight from high school, "take his talent" to the Miami Heat this Fall. Shocking? Very.

Especially considering how brutally-scripted his management team (LMR Management) has handled this entire free-agency period, LeBron could have chosen the glitz & glamour being the unquestioned KING of the world's biggest city in New York. If he wanted to spin the "hometown boy staying home, doing my family & friends proud" - as he HAS been doing for the past 7 yrs - he would've stayed in Cleveland, with provisions possibly to a shorter contract.

Instead, the 2-time NBA MVP now joins Chris Bosh in South Beach, in a city where Dwayne Wade is not only a superstar, but a proven one - having already won the franchise's first championship. Can these three superstars (and whoever else joins them in Miami) mesh & contend to win it all, year after year? They most certainly can. Most of us just didn't see LeBron James, the man the legend, who refers to himself CONSTANTLY in the 3rd person, willing to possibly NOT be THE man on a team.

As I wrote on my Twitter a bit earlier when I was thinking about the 2010-2011 Miami Heat, "Dwayne Wade is the brave big brother, Chris Bosh is the useful middle child & LeBron James is the youngest but most talented - should be fun." There's not that much doubt that LBJ is the most dynamic & gifted of the three superstars, but will most of us view it as LeBron's team? Even if he wins 2-3 championships alongside Wade & Bosh, will he garner the respect & earn the legacy that James so clearly wants as a validation to his greatness? Yes - but no collection of championship rings in Miami would be viewed the same way as if James had won just ONE in Cleveland.

Which now leads me to the "meat" of my piece: Cleveland Cavaliers majority Dan Gilbert's reaction to his former player's decision. First, he RIPS into LeBron with a lengthy, ANGRY (understatement of the year) open letter to the fans.. I won't copy & paste the full thing, but Gilbert's letter definitely reads "reads like a drunken e-mail sent to an ex. All caps? Really?" as NBA writer Dave McMenamin so eloquently put it.

I've highlighted key passages of Gilbert's letter here below:

"As you now know, our former hero, who grew up in the very region that he deserted this evening, is no longer a Cleveland Cavalier. This was announced with a several day, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up culminating with a national TV special of his "decision" unlike anything ever "witnessed" in the history of sports and probably the history of entertainment. You simply don't deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal. I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE. The self-declared former "King" will be taking the "curse" with him down south. And until he does "right" by Cleveland and Ohio, James (and the town where he plays) will unfortunately own this dreaded spell and bad karma. Just watch. Sleep well, Cleveland." - Dan Gilbert

Between the ALL CAPS & excessive use of quotations in an open letter to the fans, this was definitely the most shocking thing I've seen in the world of sports in recent history. Though somewhat amusing to us, Dan Gilbert's lack of professionalism will probably catch up to him in the near future - I can't really imagine any free-agents who'd choose to play for an owner like that.

The full letter is now the first thing you see at the Cleveland Cavaliers website, and members of the media associated with Cleveland are actually communicating that this letter was probably a "toned down version of Gilbert's original." Yikes - see the carnage in it's entirety at:

http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/news/gilbert_letter_100708.html