Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2014/04/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The horse died five years ago but apparently you've dug up the unkillable zombie, Frank. In 2009 at the announcement of the cancellation Stefan Daniel told us that the R10 body would have had to sell for 6000 to 7000 EURO. I think fair to say that would cause pause for thought for many? The R faithful on their own were just not sufficient potential market in Leica Camera's judgement. Remember that this was impacted by the GFC at the time. Leica Camera was in difficult financial straits again and did not have the capacity nor resources to develop three systems concurrently. A 35mm size sensor (any of them) does not do the same things best as a medium format camera. They never did compete. Cheers Geoff http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman On 8 April 2014 22:25, Frank Filippone <red735i at verizon.net> wrote: > This discussion started off as a comment on discontinuing the R system in > favor of the S. > > My point was and remains that Leica made a decision that the R market was > too big and competitive for them to play in, where Leica innovations and > image quality at the projected selling price would make the market too > small to them to presumably make a profit. So they decided on the D-MF > market. > > From a May 2013 interview by Forbes Magazine of Leica's Stephan Schulz, > the Head of Professional Photo at Leica Camera AG: > "There are no industry-wide figures, but we think the core medium format > market is roughly 6000 units per year - worldwide, for all brands. We are > not yet the market leader (I estimate Phase One to have 40-45% market > share), but we already have 20% share - and this is only after 3 years > after introduction." > > Interpolating this data..... 6000 * 20% = 1200 cameras per year..... ( if > you assume that Schulz is talking about Unit market share and not Dollar > market share) > > Have then had some degree of success? The noted 20% market share says > yes. The fact that they remain in that business says the company is > sufficiently happy with the inroads that have been able to make and the > profits or losses thereby. > > Circling back to the original discussion, and based on data we now have on > the S system, comparing it back to the R system, .... Would Leica have > sold 1200 R10's at prices that would have been 50-100% above the > competition? There are enough Leica nuts ( myself included) out there that > the answer is most likely ....Yes...... After all, to own an M lens, we > spend 10-20 times the price of mainstream lenses to own the Leica brand.... > > And with that, a dead horse. > > Frank Filippone > Red735i at verizon.net > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information