[Leica] The Leica Brick.....(a.k.a. the R8)

[Bill <m6rf@yahoo.com>]

As regular readers of this list may remember, about six months ago I
post here exactly what Herr Cohn was going to have to do to get rid
of his warehouse full of dead R8 inventory.  That was: A) Drop the
'real world' retail price to $1499.00 (USD), and B) Put a five year
guarantee on that turkey.  He has not done it, and he still has the
R8s.

So far Herr Cohn has been playing around with the idea of a 5 year
guarantee and a small price reduction in Europe...the problem is that
he is just playing around with it.

A quick check of the Camera World web site this morning shows that
they are selling the R8 for $1899 (USD) plus you get FREE shipping
and two FREE first class tickets to Germany on Lufthansa.  (Just
kidding about the FREE Lufthansa tickets).  But you get the idea.

If Herr Cohn ever wants to get rid of this mill-stone around Leica's
neck, he is going to have to take decisive action and cut the ratail
price another $300 and immediately implement a universal world wide 5
year guarantee.  This will acomplish several things: A) Immediately
give Leica a much needed increase in sales and cash flow; B)Generate
more R lens sales for the company; and C) Generate some action and
excitement for Leica among it's customers and the equity markets; D)
Broaden Leica's customer base.

Now, if Herr Cohn is real smart...He will package the R8 with a 50mm
lens.

And, while we are on the subject...I think Leica like most companies
has good sales in November & December, which is going to APPEAR to
help their bottom line for the third quarter.  But don't kid yourself
folks, those are one time sales figures and will not carry over into
the fourth quarter.  I think Leica will announce it's numbers in the
next week or so.  If their number are not 'better than expected',
watch for their stock to drop sharply.

After flerting with the 10 (Euro) range for the past week or so,
Leica Camera's stock took a nose dive Thursday & Friday and was DOWN
20%.  In other words, if you would have purchased $10,000 in Leica
stock this week at 10.00 a share, Friday afternoon it would have been
worth $8,000.

Herr Cohn has exactly the same basic problem that he had six months
ago.  He needs to bring in someone that can "make things happen". 
The longer he waits the more difficult and expensive that task
becomes.


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