Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/01/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Keep buying digitals, guys; and remember how that M3 that cost $275. in 1960 depreciated and went out of style. And celebrate the throw-away generation of tools. Seth ----- Original Message ----- From: "Don Dory" <dorysrus@mindspring.com> To: "'Leica Users Group'" <lug@leica-users.org> Sent: Saturday, January 22, 2005 8:25 AM Subject: RE: [Leica] Doomed: Leica MP 0.58x > Feli, > Nikon reported some very nice earnings for fiscal 2004. Income > primarily came from the stepper business and P&S camera sales. > > The Japanese expect however that 50% of the digital camera makers to be > bankrupt in the next two years. Something to do with extremely rapid > product cycles, merchants maintaining a very lean inventory so no supply > chain profits, and price points that drop 10% a month. > > Don > dorysrus@mindspring.com > > -----Original Message----- > From: lug-bounces+dorysrus=mindspring.com@leica-users.org > [mailto:lug-bounces+dorysrus=mindspring.com@leica-users.org] On Behalf > Of Feli > Sent: Saturday, January 22, 2005 4:12 AM > To: Leica Users Group > Subject: Re: [Leica] Doomed: Leica MP 0.58x > > The point was that Hasselblad seems to finally gotten the message and > is trying to > do something about it, even if it's late in the game. Meanwhile over > in Solms they still appear to be pretty clueless. > > Obviously both companies in trouble and there is a good chance that > they will not make it. > > But in general I think we seem to be on the verge of a shakeout in the > market as a whole. > > How long do you think Minolta/Konica or Pentax is going to be able to > hang in there? > Is Olympus far behind? From a distance it appears that really only > Canon and maybe Sony in the consumer market are really secure. For the > past few years Nikon has been looking like it's one serious screw up > away from being a footnote in photographic history. If they drop the > ball with the D2x, they are done for in anything but the prosumer > market. The D2H was a big misstep; the 1d II pretty much annihilated it > the day it came out. > > So, I think it's safe to say that the entire market is in turmoil. > > feli > > On Jan 21, 2005, at 9:04 PM, Daniel Ridings wrote: >> >> Hasselblad is as far, or further, down the road of financial problems >> than >> Leica. It's hard to guess who will go down first, Leica or Hasselblad. >> Leica has already started taking some of the same measures: stopping >> production, for example. >> >> But Hasselblad has gotten a raw deal. The company was bought up (by > the >> Swiss) in the 90's. At that time Hasselblad had an advanced R&D group >> working on digital. >> >> The new owners said "No. Stick to film." and dismantled all R&D. Yet >> new >> owners (Honk Kong) have now decided digital it the thing. Day late and > >> a >> dollar short. >> >> So in Hasselblad's case it wasn't management so much as greedy capital >> that ruined them. >> >> Same process is going on with Kodak, Ilford, but not Agfa (as much). >> "Forget new products, new directions, milk the cow you have as long as > >> you >> can and then liquidate." >> >> Leica's cow is people with too much money in their pocket. Leica's >> business idea is to lighten their load. Photography doesn't have >> anything >> to do with it. There's nothing a new Leica can do that my M2 can't do. >> Nothing. You push the shutter and it takes a picture. I like that. >> Thank-you Leica. We're both old fogies, Leica with their technology > and >> film users. Our days are numbered. Soon some of us relics will be >> figuring >> in glossy b/w magazines for fine art. Most of us won't. >> >> Daniel >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> >> > ________________________________________________________ > feli2@earthlink.net 2 + 2 = 4 > www.elanphotos.com > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >