Olympus had its best chance in the early days of DSLR when it introduced the bridge digital camera E-10. But it was overshadowed by the Canon D30.
Canon continued to introduce bodies such as Rebel, xxD, 1D and 5D series. Even Nikon had to wait until D40, D300 and D3 before it became competitive again.
Olympus gambled on Four Thirds system when the low MP APS sensor was the standard. Now it has to compete with high MP APS and full-frame sensors.
I believe it's new strategy is niche marketing with the new Micro Four Thirds system. Combining the recently announced Panasonic Leica M and R mount adapters, the new Olympus E-System camera will be a very interesting product.
According to the Japanese BCN Ranking of the bestselling DSLRs in Japan for the year 2008, both Panasonic G1 and Olympus E-510 shared 1.4%.
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