Hi Bruce, on 05 Mar 03 you wrote in pentax.list:
>In the US, if both companies were on equal footing that would be true. I agree that Pentax has a problem in this point. It is the same in Germany: they have neglected their marketing and there is no positive brand awareness. If you go to a German town and want to try some Pentax gear, then you will find Pentax only in 1 of 5 stores or even worse. >The basic problem is that a DSLR costing $1500 USD is not inexpensive. Yes. I feel very strange thinking that a DSLR costing 1500$ is relative cheap... It IS quite inexpensive but it is much more money than I have spent before on a single photo item. And much more than I want to spend...;-) >The MZ-S at $800 is not selling well compared to a Nikon F100 at over >$1000. Right, but the analog SLR market is quite saturated. The DSLR market is much more dynamic and the demand is bigger. The D60 could have been sold many more times than it was produced. Kodak has some much preorders for its DCS14n that the list price will be the street price and there will be an allocation for the world market. >I think that people willing to spend $1500 would take a hard >look at the companies and system. At this point, Canon has a much >better story to tell. Current track record D30, D60, 1D, 1DS and now >10D - IS and USM lenses, broader line of lenses, pro support, well >known brand name and visible working pros using the system. Pentax >doesn't have any of those things. ACK. >Mostly they are known for P&S and entry level SLR's. People who buy >current Pentax products are not going to spend $1500 on a DSLR. People >who have old lenses that they haven't used in years are not going to >spend $1500 on a DSLR. They are actively using something else or are >not ready to spend that much on a DSLR. It would be interesting to know, which potential customers are there and which Pentax wants to "conquer". I think the question which DSLR to buy is much more complex than choosing between the mentioned systesm. What about touching and trying the camera? If the Pentax LCD is really able to show the actual finder picture (instead of only being able to playback taken pictures) than the camera will look much better compared to the 10D directly. If it has a better user interface than this might convince additional customers. If Pentax sells it as a kit with the new FAJ lens for a reasonable price (1600?) and Canon has no comparable cheap lens than customers might prefer it. Provided that the customer can take both cameras in his hand - what takes us to Pentax weakness mentioned above. We still don't know, which customers Pentax wants to reach. Maybe they are satisfied selling it to the existing customer base? Or the Japanese market? The success of the *istD does not only depend on its selling numbers compared to any competitor but to Pentax' aims. Keep in mind - Pentax is a niche player. >Based on everything we know, the *ist D is NOT obviously better >spec'ed. Therefore, it need to be OBVIOUSLY better priced to really >take off. As I said before - not only the specs are relevant but the reception by the customers. We will have to wait and see how the public will accept this new DSLR player. >So I am saying that there needs to be an OBVIOUS reason to choose the >*ist D over the 10D Canon. So if there feature set is very similar >and their price is very similar, what is so different? The Brand for >one, and in this country that pushes people to Canon. This applies to Germany, too. >Size is a difference (I'm glad that it is smaller), but I'm not hearing >or reading that it makes any material difference. Oh, yeah, the 10D >has a magnesium outer shell - big plus towards the 10D. At least the *istD looks like the magnesium made MZ-S - maybe they will be equal in this point, too. >So you tell me, how is Pentax going to turn heads and get people to >buy the *ist D over the Canon 10D? Again: - touch&feel (?) - LCD - compactness - user interface And finally just the fact not wanting to buy something that everyone buys. Being the individual*ist. Maybe we can understand deeper sense of the strange name now...;-) Seems to be a more sophisticated marketing strategy as I thought before. Regards, heiko
