Malcolm wrote: It's like the *ist D all over again. I have never figured out the Pentax marketing strategy. With all the competition out there, you would have thought that advertising and products in shops readily available was a must do. Getting an *ist D when they first came out involved putting an order in and hoping you would get one, cash deposit down, unseen - and that from buyers who continually saw the launch date postponed. This is fine for a limited production run of a supercar but commercial suicide for a digital SLR. How many folk here got bored of waiting and went elsewhere for their digital needs - and this from a Pentax list!!
REPLY: Although this fits well in with Pentax lack of marketing strategies (perhaps it is a strategy!), I was actually told that Pentax had no plan to meet demand of the *ist D ever. They would never make any volume with this camera. This was at the introduction and plans may have changed since for all I know... I believe the *ist D only purpose is to provide Pentax with a DSLR signalising that they will continue to make SLR's. The *ist D probably virtually only sell to people thats already within the Pentax system. Perhaps the camera is a loss leader anyway and Pentax may loose money on every one for all we know... Pål
