On 5/17/2018 8:33 AM, Gonz wrote:
Hmmm, I've been lusting over Fuji's stuff for a while now, maybe this
is the push that I need. On the other hand, I read something like
this:
https://petapixel.com/2018/05/17/ricohs-new-camera-sdks-open-the-door-to-3rd-party-apps/
Which I've been advocating for years now. There are few things that
can create more buzz and excitement than an active third party
ecosystem that gives you applications and features Pentax/Ricoh could
not dream of. This is what made Apple the phone brand that it is,
maybe this will revive the Pentax brand and allow it to survive.
I don't think there is much doubt that the Pentax brand will survive.
What is in doubt is if it will survive in such a way as to make it
desirable for entry level users. The road map is indicating all high end
lenses, and as the camera market is shrinking at a rather alarming rate,
the high end of the market is the safest place to be positioned.
The low end of the market is being eviscerated by the cell phone market.
Low end, low cost products have to sell in huge numbers to be
profitable. Going forwards, those sales numbers simply won't exist.
Witness Ford getting out of the sedan market, essentially abandoning the
entry level automobile market to Korean manufacturers as an example.
My guess is that the Pentax brand is going to pretty much abandon the
beginner market (the Ricoh brand may pick up traction there), and
concentrate on high end products that can be profitable at low volumes.
As much as forum users who think they know everything disagree because
Pentax isn't doing what they want (they must be stupid because of that),
the management at Ricoh is made up of some pretty smart cookies who
walked into the Pentax brand with their eyes open. We may not be seeing
the development speed we would like to see, but we are seeing an ongoing
commitment and a steady, albeit slow, pace of development.
bill
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