Re: [Leica] How to manage a camera company?

[TTAbrahams@aol.com]

Leica AG is in a bit of trouble, no doubt about that, but we should also 
remember that corporations in Europe and in Asia operate under different 
"time" frames than the US/Canadian model. They do have a more than a 3-6 
month "instant gratification" approach. What would worry me is more along the 
line of a buyout or take over by some corporate "shark". The Leica name has a 
certain cache, similar to that of Rolex, Louis Vuitton or for that matter 
Rolls Royce or Bentley. It could easily be bought and sold of piecemeal for a 
rather substantial profit.
 What is needed now is a "decisive moment", corporately speaking.  The name 
Leica is well known and unfortunately, from a profit point of view, most of 
the sales are in used Leicas and that does not benefit the current company. 
So what that the MP's sell for $18-20 000 today, Leica sold them for $ 400 in 
1957 and does not benefit from the "collectible" prices today. In fact, it 
could be a major "career move" to have the company disappear and pushing the 
collectible prices even higher. This would of course leave us users in a dire 
spot!
 The current renaissance in 39 screwmount lenses (and cameras) and the new 
M-mount Konica will put pressure on Leica to hold on to its niche market. The 
Cosina lenses are extremely good value for money, the 15/4,5 because of its 
unique position of being good quality and affordable and the rest of the 
line-up is as good. The 25/4 Snap-Shot Skopar is very sharp and contrasty and 
its lack of rangefinder coupling is less of a problem than I initially 
thought. The 35/1,7 is a lower-priced alternative to the pre-Asph Summicron 
35 and the 50/1,5 Nokton is actually superior to the Summilux 50/1,4 at less 
than 40% of the cost! The 75 is a portable version of that focal length, it 
is not as good as the 75/1,4, but it is a very good piece of glass in its own 
right. Cosina/Voigtlander's approach is similar to Leica of the 60's. Give 
the customer what he/she wants and they will buy. Look at the array of 
finders and adapters that they introduced with the lenses. There was 
evidently some good market planning going on there! Cosina is currently 
selling between 700 and 1000 Voigtlander Bessa-L with the 15/4,5 and the 25/4 
a month in GERMANY!
 The Konica M-mount is an interesting concept and although it will create a 
lot of interest and probably sell quite well, Konica has one problem. The 
M-mount camera was conceived and designed when the Yen/$ was 140/$ and 
released with the 104/$. This has already given that camera an almost 35% 
disadvantage in the market place. Can you imagine a M-mount, fully loaded 
Hexar (1/4000 and 1/200 flash synch) for $ 1100 instead of today's 
$1500-1600. That would really have damaged the sales of NEW M6. Now the two 
cameras will be competing on an almost level playing field and in that match, 
my money is on the Leica.
 The R-system is a marketing disaster. The R8 was too big, (sales are slow in 
Asia and one reason is that the camera is difficult to hold if you have 
smallish hands, or even average sized hands), too many problem in the early 
batches and the features on the camera were 10 years out of date! No wonder 
that used R7's are going in up in price. The debacle of the R8 Motor was 
inexcusable; you cannot sell a camera targeted to the professional market and 
say "Sorry, some essential accessories will be another couple of years in 
coming"! One of the big problem that Leica/Solms has had in the last decade 
or so, is that they have not "sold" the cameras, but trusted that the cameras 
reputation would continue to promote it on its own. The advertising and 
promotion in Europe is better than here in North America, where the marketing 
truly "sucks"!
 New products are not the only answer to Leica Solms woes. They also have to 
learn how to sell the existing line and keep their promises in regard to 
deliveries. There is nothing as irritating as an organization that keep 
promising a product and cannot keep the delivery times. It can be difficult 
at times to do so (I know from personal experience), but then state this at 
the time of introduction. 
 What could be done within the current framework of products is to upgrade 
the lenses still left intact in the M-system (28/2,8, 50/1,4 and possibly the 
50/2). Yes, a new AE M6 TTL would be nice, but it is not an essential 
product. Take the money instead and spend it on promoting the M6 TTL and 
negotiate a deal with Konica for joint sales of the Hexar-M (if Hasselblad 
can do it with Fuji - and that was even a different film-size!) it could be 
done. It is unrealistic today to expect a smallish operation like Leica/Solms 
to develop a brand new camera, particularly one that involves technology that 
is unproven (within Leica/Solms that is). Rather than getting in to a fight, 
join forces.
 My favourite idea for the M-camera is the digital back for it. Take off the 
baseplate and back door, clip in a CCD back and memory "pack" and now your 
old DS M3 and its 50DR is shooting digital images. Want to go back to 
shooting Tri-X, unclip the digital back and put the old backdoor/baseplate 
back on. At the moment most of the CCD are ½ frame or smaller, make an 
auxiliary finder that goes on top and folds down over the existing viewfinder 
window. Make the back a separate unit from the memory/battery pack and when 
larger CCD are available these can be designed to be plugged in (or the 
reverse, larger memory packs can be adapted to the existing CCD).
 The R-system could be kept around, the R6-2 is selling well and allow other 
manufacturers to buy Leica optics and adapt these lenses to their camera 
bodies. Sell out what exists of the R-8 and kill it. It is becoming what the 
SL2-Mot was. Each of the SL2-Mot's made and sold, represented a 1000 DM loss 
to Leica!
Remember the R-4. When you make a mistake, cut the losses rather than try to 
keep it alive beyond what is economically reasonable.
Tom A

Tom Abrahamsson
www.rapidwinder.com