Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/11/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Arturo, You are committing the same error as many other (mostly long gone) companies have done, namely to define your market too narrowly. Why in the world is Leica not competing with Canon and Nikon? Of course they are! The R8 takes pictures; so do Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Minolta etc. The fact that the R8 is manual focus is irrelevant, it still has to fight for the same dollar/mark/yen in the photographer's pocket as the AF cameras. I think we should understand also that the professional market is very small, most of the turnover of the equipment makers comes from amateurs. Since Leica competes in the luxury segment of this market, I would even argue that not only is it competing against other high-end photo equipment, but to a large extent also against other high-end "toys" such as Rolex watches, gold-plated fountain pens and other forms of conspicuous consumption. This becomes particularly obvious when you consider the various special editions which add absolutely nothing in terms of photographic functionality compared to the normal models and yet cost 2-3 times as much. The reason Pentax and Minolta can compete with Canon and Nikon is that they are good at marketing their products. I repeat, most cameras are sold to amateurs for whom the relatively small differences between the different makes that we enthusiasts fight about are irrelevant. When I bought my first SLR as an uneducated beginner back in 1985, I based my purchase decision on a test of cameras in Consumer Reports. The best buy was the Pentax Super Program (Super A in Europe) and that is what I bought. Today I would never base a decision about a photo purchase on a Consumer Reports review, but then again, today I am not the typical photo equipment buyer, and neither is anyone else on this list. The ultimate fate of Leica will not be decided by its engineers. It will be determined by how well the marketing people listed to the market and how they execute on the signals they receive; and by how well the company is able to control costs while maintaining the essential product attributes. Nathan AJSymi@aol.com wrote: > I would be too!! :-) When I stated that Leica has a good product line and > that they have very little competition, I certainly did not even get into > whether that's good for their bottom line or not. But IMHO, I really don't > think Leica has any real competition for the M and R line. The M system > stands alone as the only manual rangefinder with fast interchangeable lenses. > The R system is the only modern manual-focus SLR (aside from Contax SLR's). > So in effect, little or no competition (again, not the largest niche in the > world, but...). I really don't think Leica is competing with Canon or Nikon. > You either want AF or you don't; and the price points of new Leicas further > takes it out of competition with other brands. What I can't understand is how > Minolta and Pentax compete with Canon and Nikon!!! > > Cheers, > Arturo - -- Nathan Wajsman Overijse, Belgium Photography page: http://members.tripod.com/~belgiangator/index.html Motorcycle page: http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/downs/1704/index.html