Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/07/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I have a few comments about Leica's support of antique models. Within the last several months I've seen two M3s that Leica USA had serviced. You could best describe the workmanship as breathtakingly adequate. They worked OK, but certainly not up to the standards that a Leica user really should expect. I say this because I've also had cameras that had been serviced by Sherry Krauter, and the difference in quality couldn't have been greater. Given a choice, I'd send my cameras to a technician who really cares about the equipment, such as Sherry, or DAG, or John Van Stelten, among others. If I had to depend on Leica to service my old equipment, I'd dump it all on eBay and get something entirely different. What's the point of putting up with a Rolls if it's going to run and feel like a Chevy? Leica is not some company that's selling mass production cars, such as GM or Porsche. Leica is selling nostalgia--nostalgia for workmanship, nostalgia for a largely non-automatic technology. If you want a better analogy in automobiles, look at Morgan in Malvern, UK. They decided to stick with 1936 ash frame technology, with occasional updates of engines and some other components. Their production is limited, they have a group of wildly enthusiastic adherents around the world, and it takes several years to get a new car from them. You drive a Morgan because you want a Morgan, and not a Porsche or BMW. They have decided to serve a target market that appreciates what would otherwise be considered an obsolete product. When Leica announces that they will choke off the remaining parts supply to the network of craftspeople who are keeping the mystique alive, they're doing incalculable damage to their brand and core group of customers. Just as nostalgia for their 1950s and 60s cameras lead to the MP, the company needs to realize that many buyers also assume that the organization will be supporting their camera long, long after everything else had bitten the dust. If Leica is perceived as just another camera company, following conventional large business practices, its products risk becoming (in the eyes of their clientele) mere cameras--in this instance overpriced, technically backward, and largely wedded to the rapidly shrinking film marketplace. WE'RE really the lunatics who are keeping the doors open, merely by talking up the value of the products, swapping stores, and posting pictures made each week. Take away the enthusiasts, and who's going to influence their friends to buy the stuff? Jim Shulman Bryn Mawr, PA - -----Original Message----- From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of Gary Williams Sent: Friday, July 25, 2003 3:07 PM To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us Subject: Re: [Leica] Leica USA no longer selling repair parts Subject: Re: [Leica] Leica USA no longer selling repair parts > Exactly. Strategy versus tactics. Win the battle and lose the war. > > JB > > On Friday, July 25, 2003, at 01:56 PM, Clive Moss wrote: > > > Leica is simply making another misstep in a long line of missteps. It > > has > > failed to respond competitively to several rounds of "disruptive > > technologies" in the Clay Christenson sense. What appears to be > > reasonable > > tactical management can often be awful strategic management. > > See e.g. http://www.disruptivetechnologies.com/ccinterview.html > > Kodak seems to be going down the same path, as did Polaroid. > > -- > John Brownlow As both a newbie to Leica (with no Leica baggage) and as a person with over 20 years of experience in the business world, I have a slightly different take on this topic. Leica is probably the only company in the world providing active support of products that are 25-35-50+ years old. B.D. a.k.a. "Mr. Sunshine" compares the Leica decision about parts sales to individuals to requiring owners of new automobiles to get repair service only at dealerships. This analogy is flawed. Try taking your classic 356 Porsche or '55 Chevy today to a dealer to get it repaired. Not even B.D.'s charm could pull this off. The real issue here is not some kind of corporate bumbling, or conspiracy to squeeze out the independent repair folks, or any other act of malfeasance by Leica. How many years have elapsed since many of these Leica camera parts were last produced? Is Leica willing to retool production to make more rangefinders for the M3, or shutter assemblies for the SL2? Or willing to contract a third party to manufacture a limited production run? In a time and in an industry driven more than ever by "disruptive technologies" (to borrow a phrase) and economic challenges, this is absurd. The simple fact is Leica is running out of many spare parts after all of these years of support. Leica is in a no win situation with this. Eliminating sales of parts to individuals may not be the result the Leica classic user wants in the short term, however, it's the only decision that makes any sense from a company perspective. Eliminating sales of dwindling parts inventory to individuals insures that Leica has access to any remaining stock so that Leica is in a better position to continue its support of its antique models. Gary - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html