RICOH BUYS PENTAX BRAND AND CAMERA BUSINESS

Reuters is reporting a bit of board room activity in Japan this morning resulting in Ricoh purchasing the Pentax brand and camera business from current owner and proprietor Hoya Corporation. The global news agency points out that Hoya's initial acquisition of Pentax, back in 2007, was primarily motivated by its eagerness to acquire Pentax's medical technology, and although the company's had a slew of strong products since then, it probably makes sense for Hoya to pass the digicam work on to someone who might feel more invested in it. For its part, Ricoh also has a well respected line of digital compacts, but lacks the DSLR lineage and experience that Pentax brings.

SONY CEO MAY HAVE LEAKED iPHONE 5 CAMERA INFO

While speaking at an event in New York on April 1st, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer may have accidentally let slip info regarding Apple’s next-generation iPhone 5. Apple has been rumored to be looking for a new camera module supplier for some time, and now it looks as though Sony may be that supplier.

Stringer, while speaking to The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg on stage at Carnegie Hall, mentioned that Sony’s image sensor facility in Sendai was impacted by the recent catastrophe in Japan. He then went on to say that this would likely impact the timeliness of sensor shipments to partner companies, using Apple as an example of Sony’s Partners.

Sony does not supply camera modules for any current Apple products. Should Sony in fact be supplying image sensors for Apple’s iPhone 5, the sensor in question is likely Sony’s new 8-megapixel Exmor R, which can be found in newer Sony Ericsson devices like the Xperia arc and Xperia neo.

RUMOR: APPLE'S NEW iPOD NANO TO HAVE CAMERA, RETAIN FORM FACTOR

Apple.pro has released some images they claim to be the next iPod Nano. From what we can see, the seventh generation iPod nano would keep the same form factor as the existing model, though would add a relatively large camera sensor to the back of the small multi-touch music player. We’re betting that we’ll see the new iPod nano with camera appear at one of Apple’s traditional fall music events later this year.

NEW YORK TIMES SAYS NO APPLE iPHONE NANO

The New York Times is reporting that Apple will not be releasing a smaller version of their popular iPhone. The article goes on to state that Apple will be releasing a less expensive version, to compete with Android phones. To achieve the lower cost, Apple would use lower cost internal parts such as a lower quality camera and smaller memory modules.

The article doesn't specify if this new cheaper model will roll out when Apple launches the next generation of the iPhone in June or not.

VIDEO CALLING IN NEXT iPAD

Although it is hard to confirm, or deny, from teh picture below, but according to 9to5Mac it shows video calling capabilities being tested for the next generation of iPad. [9to5Mac]