On Jan 12, 2010, at 7:21 PM, Adam Maas wrote: > On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 5:41 PM, Mark Roberts <[email protected]> wrote: >> P N Stenquist wrote: > >>>> >>> We'll see. I heard some things to the contrary from a reliable source >>> just the other day. >> >> Your source is either kidding you or himself: In a year *someone* (my >> money's on Sony) will have a FF camera for around $1600. The $1500 >> price point won't be far behind. (That's what the ist-D sold for when >> it was first released.) Of course I've been wrong before: I predicted >> a sub-$2000 FF camera by mid 2010 and that camera came 8-9 months >> *earlier* than my estimate... > > Sony's one product cycle off a $1600 FF body. I expect the A850 to hit > that point by PMA 2011, if not sooner. And there may be an even > cheaper A800 in the lineup this year (lower-MP sensor in an A850 > body). > >> >>> To draw some parallels, Mini survives as a marketer of small cars, >>> without having flagships. VW had it's best years when it stuck to a >>> segment. You don''t have to be full range to sell successfully. What's >>> more, APS-C will continue to improve. There will always be an upgrade >>> path. FF isn't absolutely necessary in that regard. > > Mini is BMW's compact brand, as SMART is for Mercedes. Both survive by > being a product, not a product line. VW is VW AG's budget brand in the > west and needless to say they d best when not competing with > themselves (IE the low-end of the Audi spectrum). > > But Mini is a brand, and Mini buyers aren't BMW wannabes. Mini isn't marketed as a small BMW. The 1 Series occupies that niche.
Most car brands are owned by a parent company, but they are marketed independently. In regard to VW, they were at their best when they produced small cars only and were an independent brand. In any case, success in a market segment is always possible. It's been proven many times in many product categories. Paul > > > > -- > M. Adam Maas > http://www.mawz.ca > Explorations of the City Around Us. > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
