Nikon is developing a rival to Canon's PowerShot G11, the company's UK senior product manager Kevin Egan said in a recent interview. He told Amateur Photographer that the G11 is considered a "benchmark" for high-end prosumer compacts and that a model should come out soon with similar performance. While short on what this entails, Egan did say it would likely borrow technology from Nikon's DSLRs and have the build of a high-end Coolpix point-and-shoot.

Such a camera would most likely involve a relatively large sensor, whether APS-C sized to match the performance of crop-frame DSLRs or just a larger than average compact camera's sensor. It may also switch to CMOS or use other technologies to improve low-light performance and is likely to have more manual control. The P6000 embraced manual control and support for features like a hot shoe flash, but it focused on resolution and hasn't been available since August.

Egan didn't provide a release date at the time of the article, but a French teaser campaign along with a scheduled press morning may put the release of the mystery camera on March 8th. No concrete rumors have yet surfaced for the camera itself. [via Nikon Rumors]