[Leica] How much does it cost to make an M4-P2 $499? body the buyout

[alaxsxaq at gmail.com (Glenn Stauffer)]

On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 17:02:13 -0800 (PST), mak@teleport.com
<mak@teleport.com> wrote:
> How much does it really cost to make a meterless M (M4-P2 if you will) 
> digital not withstanding (and much of digital is licensed NIH) Leica R&D 
> for the basics have got to be zip dollars per year. The tooling and dies 
> were paid for years ago...
> 
> If Apple can come back from the dead, why not Leica? Where is the $499 
> Mini Mac Leica?
> 
> How many of us would buy a $499 (or $799) basic M body or two (I would)
> 

In this day and age, a $499 film camera no matter how high quality is
not going to rescue Leica.  Even a $499 digital interchangeable lens
rangefinder probably won't do it.  Unless they have a suite of other
products to add to the revenue stream.  If there is going to be an
IPod in the camera world, it'll be a camera phone.

I don't really expect a company the size of Leica and certainly not
one in their financial situation to come up with the next IPod.  If I
were to make a bet, I think the future Leica is a high-end brand of
digital camera fully owned by a much larger, more diverse concern -
Matsushita, perhaps?  Someone with the electronics expertise but
without the cache that Nikon and Canon have in the photo world.

None of this is based on any kind of market research and is likely very 
wrong.

--Glenn