Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/12/29
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]My opinion about R sales is that new introductions are what expands sales. People talk about slow R8 sales, but in its first year or two sales were very strong. I think that in Leica's market segment, there's an element that many of those who are going to buy something new will buy it in the first year or two. So, IMHO, to a large extent, those who desire 80 Summicrons and 100 APOs have them, and by now, there are sufficient numbers available used that used sales substantially cut into new sales, and do so more and more as time goes on. The 80 and 100 have been around for what, 20 and 12 years, respectively? It's time they brought in some new blood, like a 90 Summmicron APO, 28 Summicron R, to spur sales. But, then again, this is only lay opinion, as I am not privy to their demographic studies. Tom Schofield > A replacement seems likely since the Summicron-R 90/2.0 sticks out like a > sore thumb in the R lens range, in as far as it does not have a ROM > contact, and cannot even be retrofitted with such contact. > > But a new Summicron like the M counterpart (APO ASPH e.g.) might > cannibalize sales of the Summilux 80 and Macro-Elmarit 100... and it is > far from sure whether Leica will want to spend money in R lens > development, apart from e.g. a new vario and a replacement for the > out-of-stock Super Elmar 15, especially at the risk of hurting sales of > other prime R lenses of almost identical focal length... > > Pascal