Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/08/09
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On 08-08-2000 22:52 Larry Kopitnik wrote: >But sales for 2 product groups dropped. Slide projectors fell 16.7% >to DM 19.1 million. And R system sales, after falling 37% the >previous year, fell another 12.3% last year to DM 37.4 million. The >report says, "The exaggerated expectations, with which the high >development costs were justified, have not been fulfilled with regard >to the Leica R8 camera presented in 1996." Larry, the slide projectors decline is quite natural as the overall market for slide projectors is in decline. But it's, as you noted, the part on the R sales decline that kept me wondering. Especially wording like "the exxaggerated expectations, with which the high development costs were justified, have not been fulfilled with regard to the Leica R8 camera presented in 1996." In between the lines this would imply that the return on investment in the R8 development has been poor and, even more worrysome to me, that future investments will not be made in view of the situation. Now, what this implies for the future of the R series I do not know as I am not in the inner circle of decision making in Solms. Either this means "benign neglect" and concentrating on strengths like the M system, or this could also mean that Leica *itself* will not again pour R&D money into future R body development but rely on a third party to deliver a camera body (rebadging most probably, with adapted lens mount). Only future will tell us, but I strongly suspect that the next R body will be based on a a partnership with another maker and will be digital (whereby the R8 would be kept on the catalogue for traditional purposes). Pascal no archive - -------------------------------------------------------- See my photo pages at http://members.xoom.com/cyberplace - ------------------------------------------------------- Who else than Leica could make a camera like the R8 ? With that unique design and above all: that ergonomics. Nikon ? Canon ? Nobody but Leica ! - ------------------------------------------------------- <<< PGP public key available on request >>>