[Leica] Re: Canon, Leica and German goods

[drodgers at casefarms.com (David Rodgers)]

Douglas,

You're right. It's easy to assume that just because a company is big
they have everything! That isn't always the case. Many of the worlds
best innovations come from smaller companies that aren't saddled with
constraints you'll find in a large company; for example a stifling
bureaucracy. 

Any company looking at taking over another company is looking at all
business lines. They're evaluating assets, both tangible and intangible.
They're evaluating cost structures, business fit, ROI, etc.  Sometimes
the decisions are simple. Sometimes they're complex. It's not unheard of
for a small company to buy controlling interest in a much larger
company. Who knows, maybe Leica will buy Canon! ;-) Now wouldn't that
make some exciting list fodder!

I don't think it's a surprise that Leica is struggling in the digital
age. What I find surprising is that Leica continued to do so well when
everyone else was migrating to AF. That, to me, is a remarkable
achievement; a testament to a great company. Can you think of another
camera company that totally shunned AF? 

DaveR

-----Original Message-----
From: Douglas Sharp [mailto:douglas.sharp@gmx.de] 

Not to sure about that Javier,
If I remember rightly, Leica, Schott and co still have some pretty 
secret glass mixtures on the stove, I believe they are also front 
runners in the production of cast (moulded) asphericals too, add this to

their custom built design/QA/QC equipment and their lens 
grinding/polishing equipment with tolerances measured in angstrom units,

there does seem to be quite a bit of stuff worth having.