Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/06/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Yes, Kim, you are indeed wrong. I would be willing to bet - not that we'll ever be able to discover if I'm correct - that Leica is doing this for one reason, and one reason only: Unless they do it, they will no longer be considered a serious camera manufacturer, no matter how good the M may be. I know there are those of you who are addicted to the R series cameras - more power to you. After all, photography is about the image; cameras are just tools, and you should use the tools that best suit your needs. But the R series has been tanking over the past several years. Leica reflex bodies have always been behind the curve technologically, and they are now at the point where they are a positive anachronism - but an anachronism a handful of people love.:-) But the age of film is coming to a close. Leica recognized this - belatedly - when they rebadged a weird Fuji digital and called it a Watchamacallit. And film SLRs, to say nothing of mechanical film SLRs, are going the way of the Dodo. So if Leica wants to be anything more than the Hermes subsidiary that manufacturers a very expensive rangefinder camera which, more and more, will only be used by hobbyists, they had no choice but to produce some sort of digital SLR. The decided, wisely I would say, that they can't compete with the Canon or Nikon for market share, so they are opting instead to try to hang onto their handful of mechanical SLR die-hards by giving them this back - should the users live long enough to ever buy it. ;-) So marketing strategy? Pretty clearly the marketing strategy is to try desperately to hang on to the tiny corner of the SLR market they now have. It's not a question of being so good they don't have to compete; it's a question of being so far out of the picture that they can't really get into it. B. D. - -----Original Message----- From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of Teresa299@aol.com Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2003 2:50 PM To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us Subject: Re: [Leica] Digital Back - I like the first step! In a message dated 6/26/03 11:18:15 AM, mvhoward@mac.com writes: << Again, you're missing the point: A Ferrari Enzo, or Aston-Martin Vanquish offers something that no-one else does: the experience is UNIQUE. If you drop around $1M on an Enzo (should you be one of the select few whom Ferrari allows to buy one), it's because it is a completely unique product. The same is true, but to a slightly lesser extent, of the Vanquish. >> Yes, well you seem to be missing the point that this digital back thingie fits onto the back of a LEcia R9. If you appreciate Leica glass then you think of it as a ferrari or something germanically exotic. Or maybe you don't. <<What I find bizarre is that Leica as a company choose to pursue an overpriced, outdated technology, for a minimal market, without actually offering any benefit over competitors of any kind -- except, of course, a red roundel. Or maybe they just consider themselves in a league of their own and they don't have competitors.>> I'm not sure, but I'd hazard a guess that Leica doesn't quite have the RD resources that Canon does. Maybe I'm wrong. But it seems like all the big players are playing catchup to Canon's wrap-up of marketing/advertising/get there first strategy. If the big guys like olympus pentax minolta/konica nikon are having a time of it, do you really expect Leica to produce some cutting edge stand alone tech that now creates three major lines, the M, the R and the D series? I suspect they decided to employ this strategy hoping that it gives them a few years to stay positioned in the SLR/D marketplace, and perhaps even pick up some new users who can no longer buy traditional SLR's because some of the older camera makers are discontinuing them. Realistically, who knows how long the now major digital players will be putting RD into new traditional camera bodies. Maybe I'm wrong and someone with greater marketing experience and knowledge of the camera industry can offer an accurate view of the situation. - -kim - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html