On 2/21/07 11:20 AM, "K.Takeshita", <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Totally agreed. > Taking an example of Sony, they are now cutting back (retreating mode) on PS3 > or whatever they call, as their profit margin began to dwindle. > They would have never entered into DSLR market unless they encountered a > chance to acquire K/M assets cheap without any new investment, which > apparently came unexpectedly (beyond just collaboration to utilize their > resources). They will pump out remakes of K/M legacy derived bodies and > rebadged lenses, but the moment they see the slightest sign of the market > saturating and not making enough profit, they will be out. > > Their traditional P&S are good. I am not badmouthing about Sony but I would not buy their DSLR as I do not know what they are going to do in the future. Sony has changed a lot and become more shrewd these days. Last month, they had a press conference regarding their quarterly financial results. In there, the CFO talked about 3 major areas, namely PS, TV and digital camera. Re digital camera, he said that their CyberShot sold well and actually exceeded their forecast of 15.5 million units by another 1.5 million units. However, when he was asked how the sale of DSLRs are going, he was rather frank and said [because of competing models released by Nikon and Canon, Sony has been struggling badly. We have been planning 2nd and 3rd models but cannot tell when we would launch these. But "we would not retreat"]. Well, he mentioned the word "retreat". Even though it was used in a positive context, the very fact he used the word "retreat" without being asked indicated to me their usual strategy, make money while they can, but when going gets tough, just retreat and minimize bleeding. DSLR has never been their main biz. They will continue to supply image sensor and might even produce DSLRs with larger sensors or even FF, but their long term strategy on DSLR is always strictly profit driven. Sorry. Sony fans. This is juts my personal take :-). Ken -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
