Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/08/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>Some different scenarios on the S3 could get to be the case: You've overlooked one scenario, the one I think most likely. The S3 proves popular enough that Nikon introduces a popularly-priced rangefinder camera using the same lens mount as the S3, and a line of lenses to support it. Those lenses, of course, would be useable on the S3 as well. Consider how the numbers reported here on the LUG -- that Nikon has orders for over 7000 S3s at $5500 each, and may manufacture as many as 8000 of them -- compare to Leica M sales (I'm assuming the Nikon numbers are accurate which, let's note, we do not know as a fact). 7000 Nikons x $5500 each = $38,500,000.00. If they make and sell 8000 S3s, the total becomes $44,000,000.00. Leica's financial report (downloadable as a pdf document from their web site) lists DM 83,791,000.00 in M system sales last year. According to an on-line currency conversion calculator, those DM translate into $38,383,334.56. The Nikon numbers are (I believe) retail price and include dealer mark-up, whereas the Leica numbers are strictly Solm's income. So this isn't an apples-to-apples comparison. But it does demonstrate that, if the Nikon sales figures are correct, with a single rangefinder body and a single rangefinder lens Nikon may be generating income close to (or possibly even greater than) what Leica generated last year with the entire M system. If I were running Nikon and looking at figures like these, I'd sure be contemplating more rangefinder cameras and lenses. Larry