On 1/7/2013 2:17 PM, Larry Colen wrote:
On Jan 7, 2013, at 6:53 AM, Dario Bonazza wrote:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/01/07/Pentax-launches-MX-1-enthusiast-compact-12MP-28-112mm-F1-8-2-5-lens
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/01/07/Pentax-Mx-1-hands-0n-preview-just-published
Cue the wailing and moaning and gnashing of teeth that "this camera isn't exactly
what I want, so it will be a complete failure".
Pentax these days strikes me a bit like the silicon valley. The vast majority
of startups fail. Perhaps one in ten actually survive long enough to make it
to the magic IPO or get bought out by a larger company. Of those, the majority
of the products that get the start up to that position, don't survive five
years after IPO or being bought out. Of those products that survive, only a
small percentage actually resonate with the marketplace to the point of being a
major success.
I think that Pentax (for whatever definition of Pentax over the past decade you want to
use) understands that they will not survive as a "me too" product. If Pentax
were simply to produce another Canon Rebel, nobody would have any reason to buy it,
rather than a Canon Rebel. What they seem to be doing is a spastic attempt at emulating
Steve Jobs, or at least Apple, in releasing different and innovative products in the
hopes that one of them will catch on. If they release ten products, it doesn't matter if
nine of them are Lisas, if one of them is an iPod.
Unfortunately, the K-5 is proof that a superior product is simply not enough
for market success.
--
Larry Colen [email protected] sent from i4est
Unfortunately the MX-1 is a me too product. It's me too from the
standpoint of a high quality P&S camera competing with various Canon,
Nikon, Olympus, etc. cameras in this segment and from a retro look
design, invoking in it's engraved name to it's beveled corners the film
MX but in typical Pentax fashion not delivering on it's promise. Pentax
did create two products that were not me too, the Q series and the K-01
neither of which I would buy for reasons before stated, but you really
can't accuse them of not thinking outside the box. If fact it's my NSHO
that if they had thought a little more inside the box and spent a few
more YEN in actually developing a EVF for the K-01, (instead of paying a
"Big Name Designer" to design the packaging), it would have sold a lot
better. Now we see them playing it extremely safe and going in the
opposite direction with the MX-1. Yes this will work out well as the
development costs were obviously minimal so they can't lose nearly as
much if the MX-1 bombs.
--
Buy a Leica to get the full “Leica Experience”, (a quick reduction of funds in
the bank account).
--
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