On 7/19/05 8:34 PM, "Herb Chong" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 1) new SLR buyers who have never owned any SLR before - i think this market > is negligible, even though John recently bought one this way and found his > way here Is this true? I do not think so. I only watch some chat sites and so forth in Japan (out of curiosity), but Pentax is doing surprisingly well in the market they compete with now, at least in Japan. Not too long ago, most people never even considered anything but the N's and C's when it comes to DSLRs. They probably did not even know Pentax was making DSLR. In fact, this surprisingly good performance by Pentax made even Canon run, and everybody knows that the rapid succession of Rebel DSLRs model announcement was the result of the success of *istDs. Canon had to counter *istDs. > 3) non-Pentax film SLR owners who are interested in going digital and have > no requirement to be compatible with their older equipment - Canon and Nikon > have mindshare and Pentax doesn't. it takes really knowledgeable sales > people and buyers with an open mind to move them to a Pentax DSLR. Just like some are switching from PC to Apple these days, which was unthinkable in the past, surprising number of people are jumping the ship to Pentax (or others). Of course, N/C still enjoy the lion's share in the market, and they certainly deserve it, but they are no longer the only game in town. Nikon is slowly getting behind in lens development. They kept spitting out zooms these days. I do not know if this is unique to Japan (probably not), but consumers are very quality and value conscious, and if they saw a better value, they rather easily switch. There are many people who consider the size and weight of cameras a crucial factor, for example. A well developed trade-in and used market in Japan probably helps this switch rather less painful. I am not saying that Pentax DSLRs are superior to the C/Ns, but I believe they have at least acquired the recognition in the market place. Not too bad so far, and it all depends on how Pentax follow their success in the market. I cannot see they continue feeding the bottom alone. Everybody sees the same potential in the same market segment. The next battle will be fought in the mid to higher end DSLR market where N/C used to own. Oly/Panasonic and Sony/KM will certainly come in (Panasonic is 3 times larger than Canon BTW). When they smell money......... We'll see. Cheers, Ken
