----- Original Message ----- From: Chris Brogden Subject: Re: Consume yourself happy with instant gratification
> On Tue, 12 Mar 2002, Bruce Rubenstein wrote: > > > A compelling reason is one that causes someone to take money out of > > their pocket and buy something. If you don't think it has merit, too > > bad; it doesn't have to meet the Pal Standard. > > You know, Pal, this is as close as you're going to come to getting him to > admit that people who buy or recommend equipment on the basis of heresay, > regardless of brand, are mindless sheep. And, since Nikon and Canon *are* > the two brands with the most recognition, they tend to attract more of the > sheep than other companies. Of course we do this to some extent, too... > how many of us have recommended Pentax to a friend without having tried > the comparable N/C/M camera? However, Pentax sheeping is at most a > small-scale thing, while Nikon/Canon sheeping is a much more popular and > widespread sport. Food for thought. People generally buy stuff based on the manufacturers reputation, to fulfill a specific need. In our situation here, the need is to take pictures, the camera is the product to fulfill it. Nikon, and to a lesser extent, Canon, have built a reputation over several decades as being the camera choice of professionals. What this reputation tells people who just want a good camera to take pictures with is that Nikon and Canon are the products to purchase. People have busy lives these days, they don't have time to do full market analysis of every product on the market that may do what they want it to do. They depend on brand reputation, then they purchase based on price point. That Pentax has failed miserably to maintain any sort of respectable brand reputation in the market place is really to bad. They make great lenses. They do not make great bodies. I submit that they haven't made a great body, when compared to their major competitors for over ten years. They have not kept up with any sort of technological trends to keep the high profile brand recognition that they had in the sixties. When Canon released the EOS 650, and Nikon released the F4, Pentax rolled over and played dead. There is a danger in playing dead. If you do it long enough, people get the wrong impression of your state of health. Being mistaken for being dead is the same as being dead in the world marketplace. Pentax needs to play a different game, before it is too late. William Robb - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
