[Leica] Leica participation in 4/3rds format

[melnyk at msu.edu (Steven A. Melnyk)]

I am confused by this series of moves for several reasons.  First, as  
a business professor, this move does not make sense because it  
degrades the value of the Leica brand.  Leica has always been  
associated with high quality, high end products.  Olympus, Kodak and  
Panasonic are considered "prosumer" at best.  Panasonic benefits;  
Leica does not.  Second, as a photographer, I have followed what is  
happening in the camera field.  We see that Konica/Minolta has left  
the camera field.  In my opinion, Pentax is next to go.  Olympus is  
not strong. I am not sure off the attractiveness of the 4/3 standard  
(especially since the big boys are not playing in it).  Third, the  
reviews on the olympus systems ((as seen in dpreview) have not been  
that outstanding.  This seems to be a good system with low ISO  
settings but one that deteriorates at the higher ISO levels.
'
In short, I am not convinced of the long term validity of the 4/3  
standard.  I am not sure that Leica does itself any benefit by  
aligning itself with this standard.  Past history tells us that when  
there are several standards, only one or two will emerge as the  
dominate standard.  In a world dominated by Canon and Nikon, I am not  
sure of the long term viability of this standard.  I may be wrong but  
history would argue against the 4/3 standard.

Steven A. Melnyk
Department of Marketing & Supply Chain Management
Michigan State University
melnyk@msu.edu