Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/09/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Tom wrote 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? If there is demand for it whether as collectable or nostalgia or art, why can't Leica fill it? - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ------------ The problem with the Leica 0 and other collectibles is not that Leica won't make money in the short term. Rather, it causes a long-term diltuion of the brand-name cachet that is necessary to move expensive goods like Leica stuff. For example, in Toronto's only authorized Leica store, the Leica on prominent display is one of those Ein Struck (sp. ???) M6s in a fabulous wooden box with red velvet in it. This only serves to remind those waltzing up to buy a Nikon F5 that Leica isn't a real camera company, its a commemerative company: its produts being too valauble, too pretty to be used. If you make a camera that is never intended to be used, like the Lecia 0, don't be surprised if people who use expensive cameras don't buy your camera. The fact that a company, any company, must look 70 years backward in time to produce a profitable product is dissapointing. You don't catch Hassleblad selling 1000Fs or Nikon making F-2s again. Jonathan Lee