Thanks for posting, that Darren. My mis-interpretations of his comments -
1. On a Full Frame DSLR - Ok, I'm I'm gonna do this interview don't pester me with a bunch of questions about a FF DSLR that I am not allowed to answer. I'll give you a gratuitous remark on that subject that is intended to placate current Pentax owners, deflect the fact that a FF would be really popular, and hint at the good stuff that we will be doing in the near term with APS-C. Then you can go ahead with serious questions about my phone calls. Except those calls I make to Miss Cleo. We don't want to get too detailed about the future, here...
2.On Ricoh's Ownership of Pentax: Ricoh is a big mean and disciplined corporation and we make great stuff and we want to leverage the Pentax brand to be a major competitor. Yeah - nothing is apparent yet but we intend to be a player and when we are done your Pentax might not be like your father's Pentax...
3.On Dealer relaitonships: Our research shows that Hoya screwed up relations with retail dealers. Unfortunately, all corporate records prior to December, 2006, have been misplace. I think everything was OK before Hoya. Well, at least that what we tell reporters. But we do want to hook users on Pentax early on and so we will be trying to sell more through retail brick and mortar stores, even Target.
4. On US Sales: Our brand has never really prospered here and that pisses us off and we want to solve that problem. I like a challenge.
5. On the Q: This is really our coolest and most innovative camera. It is meant to appeal to people who have never used anything but a cell phone to take photos. There is a huge market for it. I wish I could find someone who uses one to talk to, but so far, no luck. You know, this camera has in camera filters and cheap lenses so it is great for instagram, and that is sure to lure people away form their cell phones. I won't mention the really great 06 telephoto zoom that we just released because talking about a good lens might dull the low end chick of the Q. Is it lomography, a step up from cell phones, or just really colorful?
6. On Pentax users: We don't know what you want and I look at the stuff my staff is doing and vaguely hope that they know what tthey are doing. As their leader, I want to say that in a public interview, justt to build up morale. Oh yeah - Pentaxians are a really loyal - we don't fully understand why. Our preliminary research indicates that they are just a highly irrational lot who like to fiddle with old lenses and spout off on old style listservs. That's a hard market segment to harness but that's why I am doing all these phone calls - we have a team of psychologists and anthropologists analyzing the tapes right now...
Having deciphered the interview my interpretation is that Ricoh is bottom line orientated and won't introduce a FF DSLR till the premium pricing of FF DSLR is gone. They rightly recognize that as long as FF bodies are premium items they cannot compete, at least until they rehabilitate the Pentax brand. They will kick out some more high quality APS DSLR's and build in that segment, hopefully back filling their lens lineup with more FF compatible offerings and generally rehabilitating their accessories so when FF bodies are released they will be adequately supported. . When FF DSLRs are more of a commodity item they will release one. They rightly realize that FF DSLR's are still a premium item, commanding a premium price, and as long as that is the case consumers will wnat to spend their money on a brand that is perceived to be a premium brand - and right now that is not Pentax. It might be a year or so before DSLR's are fully comodified.
The interview also made me realize that a good bit of time has passed since Ricoh bought Pentax and we really haven't seen any changes yet - or much movement at all. The silence is deafening. The darkness is blinding. Let's hope they are doing something.
Mark On 4/10/2013 10:48 AM, Darren Addy wrote:
I don't think this has been discussed here yet but perhaps, given that this is the Pentax Discuss Mailing List, it is worthy list fodder: http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/features/an-interview-with-pentax-evp-jim-malcolm -- "Photography is a Bastard left by Science on the Doorstep of Art" - Peter Galassi
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