[Leica] A different Leica, non-survival, perspective (was LUG to the rescue)

[daniel.ridings at edd.uio.no (Daniel Ridings)]

> It was entirely apparent on my recent trip to Barcelona. I was using
> retro film Leicas. Everyone else was using Japanese digital,
>
> Solms have had plenty of time to see this coming, and, IMHO, their
> response to rapidly evolving market conditions has been far too late
> and totally inappropriate.

One should probably keep a little perspective here. I'm sure Solms did
have plenty of time and I'm sure they did make mistakes. What the mistakes
were, I don't know.

But I'm really wondering if a company with a market capital of around 12
million Euros EVER had the financial clout to start up a R&D effort around
digital no matter what they saw and wanted to do.

The management might, but the owners might have been like Kodak's owners:
"Naw, let's drain this film thing for what its worth and then let's get
out."

My point is: Leica is a little company, not a big corporation. Its options
have probably been pretty limited from the start.

Daniel