[Leica] Hermes and Leica

["Erwin Puts" <imxputs@knoware.nl>]

Let us try to look at the wider picture. First of all: Leica has been
seeking for a partner since 1998 and has stated so officially several times.
Why a partner? Leica needs to develop products much faster than they are
accustomed to. And they need to broaden or change  the range: SLR is not
doing well, P&S is a difficult market with big swings, projectors are down,
S1 is extinct, only the binoculars and the M-line and the rebranded digital
camera is doing well, as is the optical expertise as Leica now exports its
redoubtable ASPH experience.
Their current cash flow is insufficient, and while the company is in black
now, there is no room for really deep investments. A partner with deep
pockets and in the same market is needed. Not a camera company like Minolta
or Cosina, as these companies are not interested in the Leica product range,
just in the brand name and the installed user base. A buy by Minolta would
be the end of the marque.
Like it or not: Leica is a luxury product and we, the users have made it
that way: we buy black paint models and 0-series, in droves, not because it
gives you better pictures, but because it looks and feels great. We do not
buy R8 cameras, even if this is the best instrument for photography in
decades.
It maks sense to associate yourself with a company that has world fame for
luxury brands and has a habit of allowing every brand to develop its own
identity and product range as long as it is a top quality producer with a
cult following. Now Leica fits in very well.
Like it or not: most Leica buyers want a high class ambience when they buy
and be served  on a personal basis. Leica buyers dislike being treated as a
"here-is-the-box-the -instruction-is-inside" customer. They want personal
attention, a prolongued exposure to the Leica culture and an even longer
decision process.
The industry is changing: the car and watch companies show where the high
end luxury market is and what  people expect. Photography is being absorbed
into an imaging, and  multimedia market and thus loses much of its original
identity. Chemicals are out and the scanner is!
I do not deplore this change: it just happens and progress cannot be
stopped. We just have to recognize and accept it.
Leica has a Jekill and Hide personality: it IS a luxury product: why pay
thousands of dollars for an old M3
or hundreds of thousands of dollars for an original 250-Leica and it is a
formidable picture making instrument.
But the proportion of people that buy a Leica for picture making is a small
fraction of the people who buy Leica for the luxury and the image.
No problem here: a Porsche or a Rolex is also sold on the basis of its
image. We should accept that the Leca camera is a product that has
instrumental and emotional character and as of now the emotional character
is on top. Hermes has recognized it and Mr Cohn is  very smart in saving the
company.

Erwin