[Leica] I wonder if the price will increase

[jayanand at gmail.com (Jayanand Govindaraj)]

I would estimate that their gross margins on these lenses would be upward
of 60% - which really means that I am estimating their cost of production
at a still lofty USD3000 or so. That should take care of any number of
rejects, quality, raw material of the highest available specs, etc - when
you consider that the highest price (I think) that any other manufacturer
sells a 50mm for is around USD 1300 (Zeiss, and that too a Makro-Planar).
On second thoughts, their gross margins are probably closer to 70-75%.

I will be really interested whether the new M and the new 50 would have to
be sent to Solms for calibration (at an additional $$$$ charge, of course)!
Not that most of the buyers would care, they would have to use the combo
first to find out! (-:

Of course they will sell the whole lot. Their marketing strategy, as I
mentioned before, is really pretty good and focused right now! Must be
Blackstone's experience in these things commercial coming to the fore.

Cheers
Jayanand

On Mon, Dec 3, 2012 at 11:19 AM, Richard Man <richard at 
richardmanphoto.com>wrote:

> Geoff, my original statement was that the high premium lens helped to keep
> Leica afloat, and you replied that kind of statement is a "chestnut." I am
> simply pointing out that no matter how you slice it, since they WILL sell
> out all the lens they can make, whatever the profit margin is, they are
> still making a dandy profit on them.
>
> And as I said so many times before, I do not see a problem with this kind
> of business model. People like me are like the scavengers. The Collectors
> get premium stuff made, and something eventually trickle down to people
> like me, who can save and scrimp to purchase at prices while higher than
> N&C, is still within the realm of reasons.
>
> As an analogy, if you are not an alpha predator, you can either look for
> fresh insects or fleas to eat, or you can wait for discarded meat from the
> Big Guy's hunt. I guess I am just a scavenger waiting for my chance :-)
>
>
>