Herb wrote: ----- Original Message ----- From: "Herb Chong" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2005 3:16 AM Subject: Re: Predictable Pentax
> expanding the base works only if you are not losing a lot of money while > doing it. if you do, there's no money left for when the demand curve > flattens and prices drop. in the case of the DSLR market, the price > competition is going to get much worse in the next couple of years and > profit margins are going to drop further. that is why delivering a high end > body now makes sense. Fuji, Olympus, and Konica-Minolta have made > indications that this is their strategy. large market share at razor thin > margins or small market share at large margins? playing at the low end is a > good way to go out of business. Certainly not. Making a high-emd body for Pentax makes no sense at present as virtually no one would buy one. Sure, they could make a body somewhat higher than the *istD but thats about it at present. The only high-end Pentax have any hope to be a player is in digital MF. Pentax didn't even see the need to have a high-end 35mm film body after 1980. A high-end DSLR cost several magnitudes more to develop than, say, an LX replacement with much smaller sales. Very few first time Pentax DSLR buyers would buy a high-end DSLR. Hence, they need to have a DSLR customer base installed before higher end model are being released. Pål
