I dont deny that the market potential is huge, just that Pentax have not really taken to it, leaving it for the other manufactures to fight over. Whilst in the point and shoot arena, they are the market leaders. That would be a bad thing to give up for them. I am quite happy with the meagre digital offerings as it stands. So long as there is at least _some_ sort of product, I am happy.
Unfortunately, when it comes to P&S digital, Canon & Sony are the leading players. Pentax (& Olympus) might be the winner in the old day with film based P&S, but these products are losing their ground. And I must say, none of the current Pentax digital P&S attract my eyes. However, I think the DSLR market is still young and the game is not done yet, not until full frame 135 format became affordable and popular at least. There is a good chance Minolta might release a DSLR next year with AS technology which is used on A1. If Pentax followed the same route, Pentax might be able to gain their position once again because every lens will be turned into IS/VR lens instantly. That alone would make Pentax & Minolta attractive to many consumers because they did not have to buy those expensive, heavy & bulky IS/VR lenses.
Alan Chan http://www.pbase.com/wlachan
_________________________________________________________________
The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
