Alin wrote:
> Besides, Minolta lost 40% of share price in the past 3 months.
> Apparently they grossly overestimated demand for Maxxum 7 to 60,000(!)
> units/month while they only manage to sell 8000, losing 3 millions USD
> each month.
If anyone at Minolta expected 60 000 units/months then he must be a certified nutcase.
The most optimistic figures I've seen for the F100, the class bestseller, is 10 000
units/month. I guess 60 000 units/month may be in the area of the original 7000 in
1985 but those days are long gone. I said a few days ago that the Dynaxx 7 must be a
money drain for Minolta. There is no volume in this class of cameras anymore. Still,
8000 units/months is impressive.
> Bad management or dying SLR breed? If it's the first - hope that
> Pentax plays safer.
Pentax plays safer. The MZ-S is proof of that. Its obviously not made for high
volume/many features for the bucks. It selling point is an unique market position and
built quality. This ensure higher profit margins. Same for Limited lenses; they don't
depend on volume to be profitable.
What you will see in the future are volume product like the current MZ-series and low
volume/high quality products like the MZ-S and Limited lenses.
>As for the latter, this would be tragic. Only the
> major players will survive this trend, and Pentax hasn't made the
> transition to digital yet.
> Now I'm positive we won't see any film body beyond MZ-S; we are
> lucky if we get the upgraded MZ-3.
I'm not so sure. While the big three stop investing in film based slr the market may
open up for others. I'm certain that film based photography will be around for awhile.
Although, I too see a stand alone upper level slr as an imposibility. You will see
digital siblings.
Pål
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