I think that having the new MZ-S incorporated several
innovations discussed here in the PDL is a strong
indication that they do listen. Besides, how different
are Japanese photographers from north Americans? I'd
say that their needs are pretty much the same.
I don't think they totally disregard the US market but
they might consider easier and less costly to start
with their own home market since N**** and C**** are
so strong in the US. Japan can work pretty much as a
test market for Pentax.
Another possibility is that Pentax is only
concentrating efforts where their competitors are not
that strong. The fact that the MZ's sell much more in
Europe than the other SLR brands kind of indicates
that.
Herbet.
--- "Otis Wright, Jr." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
> Amen!
>
> Otis Wright
>
> Mike Johnston wrote:
>
> > >I have another theory. Maybe Pentax was trying to
> collect our opinions over
> > >the last few years in order to finalize their
> MZ-S (the name is not
> > >important) features. Now they have collected
> enough information (they think)
> > >and the MZ-S is about ready. In order to cut down
> the cost, they have
> > >decided to drop the list and let someone else to
> run it. That means from now
> > >on, what we said was less important that we used
> to be. Just a guess.
> >
> > Here's another think, more based in the reality of
> the camera industry:
> >
> > Once upon a time, the American market was the
> be-all and end-all of the
> > Japanese camera companies, and everything we
> wanted, they fell over
> > themselves to make. Now, the American market is
> relatively less important
> > than the world market and the home (Japanese)
> market, and it's relatively
> > unaffected by corporate responsiveness anyway,
> PLUS the SLR market has
> > become only a tiny fraction of the parent
> company's camera profit picture.
> > Upshot? They just don't listen to us, period. They
> don't need to. Japanese
> > companies haven't been heeling to the beck and
> call of the American consumer
> > for some time now. Our day is done.
> >
> > In fact, from inside the industry, what you often
> hear is that the Japanese
> > home offices of the camera companies don't even
> listen very well to the
> > American distributorships--and often don't tell
> them very much about what's
> > going on. Chance are, Pentax USA isn't very well
> informed about what Pentax
> > Japan is doing, Pentax Japan doesn't much give a
> fig what Pentax USA thinks,
> > and "our" opinion isn't worth a hill of beans to
> either one of them.
> >
> > I don't think it matters much whether Pentax USA
> is, or is not, "listening"
> > to our alleged collective wisdom. Difficult though
> it may be for us to adapt
> > to this fact, this is not the 1960s, and we simply
> aren't important any more
> > to a Japanese company's financial health.
> >
> > Here's a vivid example of what I mean: a couple of
> years ago, I got a Kodak
> > company insider to admit to me that, for a 5-year
> period, Kodak had
> > essentially "forgotten" about what it calls the
> "AdAm" market--advanced
> > amateurs. It was marketing to far larger and more
> important markets, such as
> > grandmothers and "tween" girls, but it had become
> largely inconsequential to
> > them that photography enthusiasts also buy
> photographic materials. We're
> > such a tiny group relatively speaking that we just
> don't matter much to the
> > company. (Incidentally, when it "remembered" about
> us, Kodak responded by
> > starting to market a slick, expensive captive
> newsletter called "ViewFinder"
> > as an "alternative" to advertising in enthusiast
> magazines. Big whoop.)
> >
> > Japan stopped making cameras primarily for the
> American market some time
> > ago. What its home market thinks of new products
> is now far more important
> > to any Japanese company than what we think. We
> should wake up and get used
> > to that fact. Our opinion really doesn't matter
> one way or the other. It's
> > hubristic and somewhat ludicrous--not to mention
> outdated--for us to believe
> > that it does.
> >
> > --Mike
> >
> > -
> > This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List.
> To unsubscribe,
> > go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the
> directions. Visit the PUG at
> > http://pug.komkon.org.
>
> -
> This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List.
> To unsubscribe,
> go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions.
> Visit the PUG at
> http://pug.komkon.org.
>
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail.
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
-
This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe,
go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Visit the PUG at
http://pug.komkon.org.
