Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/09/16

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Leica Photokina products
From: "Tom Schofield" <tdschofield@email.msn.com>
Date: Sat, 16 Sep 2000 09:56:00 -0700
References: <0.1300001572.1575065541-212058698-969109988@topica.com>

Why do people on these lists look at the 0 Serie release as a deriliction of
Leica's stewardship over their capital, breaching a duty to us by
misdirecting resources from fantastic new designs we dream of?  They go to
work each day to make a living, and if there is a profit in it, so what?

The info my local dealer passed on from their rep is that Leica had the dies
and tooling from the original, and have  two guys making 200 or 300 of them
per year, and will produce them as long as they get orders for them.
Leica's literature says it is fatihful to even the original lens design, but
that the coatings are a concession to modern performance!  Hardly a major
devotion of resources.  Probably more went into marketing it than R&D.

Chrysler loses money on every Viper and GM on every EV-1 (Corvette is viable
on its own!), but they are image cars, with a marketing value to the rest of
the line -- you can even look at 0 Serie as a marketing expense, because
they will undoubtly get free media attention out of it!  And what's wrong
with just having some fun now and then -- give them a break from the
expectation that every new product has to set new performance standards for
the industry!

If there is demand for it whether as collectable or nostalgia or art, why
can't Leica fill it?

Tom

Replies: Reply from Guy Bennett <guybnt@idt.net> (Re: [Leica] Re: Leica Photokina products)
Reply from khmiska <khmiska@umich.edu> (Re: [Leica] Re: Leica Photokina products)
Reply from Mark Rabiner <mark@rabiner.cncoffice.com> (Re: [Leica] Re: Leica Photokina products)
Reply from "Simon Lamb" <simon@sclamb.com> (Re: [Leica] Re: Leica Photokina products)