Last Powershot SDK

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In April, I received an email from Canon noting that the next Software Development Kit (SDK) for the Powershot series would be the last one. I checked and Canon said that this information could be released so I posted it in my blog.

Since the Canon email said that a new G series camera would be available in the fall, I posted that information as well. It was interesting to observe that this disclosure was largely ignored in the various online discussion forums. Sometimes it is just more fun to speculate.

In late July, I made my own predictions about the upcoming “G10” and, luckily, did not miss the mark very much. OK, so I thought the G10 would come out a bit sooner than it did, thought it would have HD video and completely missed the wide angle, shorter zoom. Oh, well…

Yesterday I received another SDK announcement from Canon. Basically, this new announcement was the same as the previous ones except that the G10 and SX110 IS were mentioned by name. The last Powershot SDK will be issued near the end of 2008. It will support the G10 and SX110IS but will not be Vista compatible. Also noted, Canon expects the G10 and SX110IS to be sold at least through mid-2009 but this could change without notice. Not really anything new but nothing different either.

I still wonder: Is this the end of the “Powershot” series or simply the end of the SDK program? The Canon email would be true if a “Powershot G11” came out in the fall of 2009 but without an SDK. The email would also be true if Canon released a “StrongCam C-1” (with CMOS?) with its own, new SDK in the spring of 2009 and then ended the Powershot series. Now, there’s a rumor for you!
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