[Leica] Leica Solms LUG LHSA Buyout

[joelct at singnet.com.sg (Joseph Low)]

             Frank - you missed the venerable Japanese in your predictions -
let me refresh your memory

             Columbia Studios - now Sony owned
             MGM - at one time owned by Matsushita ( Panasonic )
             Georg Jensen of Denmark - Japanese owned
             Aquascutum of England - owned by Japanese apparel company
Renown
              Voigtlander - now owned by the popular Cosina Company
             Contax - owned by Kyocera

            There are others out there as well that I do not have record of:

             Do not discount the Japanese equation - Leica would be be the
perfect plum to crown the Japanese
             optical industry as world leaders

             And there are ample Japanese optical companies that would (
readily ) vie for the Leica crown

             My 2c

             Joseph Low

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+joelct=singnet.com.sg@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+joelct=singnet.com.sg@leica-users.org]On Behalf Of Frank
Filippone
Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2005 14:11
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: RE: [Leica] Leica Solms LUG LHSA Buyout

Predictions....  ( all of which are terrible, but likely to happen)...

Hermes will pull out.   There will be a Management buyout.
They will sell off the Minox Line to Karl Heitz, in NYC.  ( the Robot guys).
They will sell off the Leica Binocular line to ???   It is profitable and
selling well, and it will be sold as a profitable venture, as it IS worth
something.
That will leave Leica Cameras, without a cash flow.  Tamarkin or someone
else ( the guys in Vienna?  Christie's ?  ) will buy out the Museum pieces
and the rest of the non-current inventory.  The rest, or what is left, will
go on as a repair,  assembly, and real high end camera sales line.  There
will be 3 M cameras: the M7, the MP, and the M6TTL.  There will be 2 R
cameras, the R8 and the R9.  No new R+D.  Just keep the lines as is.  The 50
Summilux ASPH will be available in minute quantities, the 75 Summicron will
never be available in any commercial quantity.  All other existent R and M
lenses will be available in limited supply.

Forget the DMR, the firmware will never work, and no one would trust a dead
end ( repair and support) camera back that is electronic for $5K.

For those of you wanting a Digital M... look elsewhere.

John Collier will have the world's only black 50 Summilux ASPH.    His old,
and broken lens, will be sold on Ebay as a rare collectible parts item.

Does it sound faintly like the ALPA situation of years ago?  ( Also a Karl
Heitz product line...)

Nostradamus Filippone


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