i think a sustainable niche is the set of current Pentax lens owners,
including the ones that screamed when their pre-A lenses wouldn't work
exactly the same on the *istD* bodies. it means giving up on the idea that
they can expand their market and concentrate on holding onto the people they
already have and migrate them to digital. that means making features that
matter to current Pentax film body owners like more complete compatibility
with the older bodies and lenses, increasing resolution and sensor coverage
to be closer to the film bodies, and adding noticeably better FPS and AF so
that that's one less reason to jump ship. IS/VR would be nice, but it's not
as important. as people here are so fond of pointing out, there are millions
and millions of lenses out there in K mount with millions of owners. i think
if you ask people why they left Pentax, most of the reasons would be along
the lines that they saw no reasonable upgrade path.
i outlined my scenario of three bodies, entry level, medium, and higher end.
the higher end body doesn't have to make money, only come close. it's job is
to provide an upgrade path for those who need it and serve as an aiming
point for those who think they might, but end up staying with one of the
lower end bodies. the mid range body is the one that makes the money, even
though the low end body would sell more. this is how it has been done by
many companies in many industries. aiming at the low end all the time means
lots of sales and little profits. aim too high without an intermediate step
and no-one can afford it.
Herb....
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jostein" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2005 7:57 PM
Subject: Re: Pentax Profits Fall 42%
Well that niche sounds too narrow to be sustainable, but I guess that's
your point.
