fire sale Leica prices

[pgs@thillana.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick Sobalvarro)]

A few people have mentioned the discounted Leica prices recently, and
I have a theory about these.  Because they are discounting both M and
R prices, and there aren't even any rumors of a new M camera, it seems
possible that Leica aren't only trying to get rid of old stock before
the rumored R8 introduction.

My personal guess is that they're trying to show strong sales growth
for the couple of quarters before their IPO.  It's interesting to
speculate how much margin they have to play with, though...

As for the question of what will happen to the company when it goes
public, I think that's open.  We've had a problem with our business
culture in the United States, where for some time our senior managers
seemed to prefer relabeling imported products and playing paper games
to doing the long-term planning required for success in manufacturing,
but that doesn't mean that the same obtains in Germany.  Isn't
Mercedes-Benz publicly traded?  I don't see strong indications that
they've decided to roll over and die, or become badge engineers.