Here's some stuff to think about... Pentax survived throughout the 90's largely on the strength of their p&s lineup, which was very impressive. Now that more and more people are switching to digital, what will Pentax have to offer in a few years? Let's see... a line of p&s cameras that's still impressive, but that's nowhere near as popular as it once was. Most people wanting snapshot cameras will probably pick up a basic digital.
I doubt that they'll make much money on their SLR's, since these aren't huge volume items, and I can't see their MedF stuff being able to carry the company. As far as digital goes, Pentax has a nonexistent showing in the SLR market and a pathetic one in the p&s market. People are switching to digital and Pentax doesn't have anything nice to show them. They're coasting now on their film p&s's, but when the market dries up for those, what do they have left to offer? Not much that's very profitable, as far as I can tell. By the look of it, Pentax shows all the signs of fading away in the next few years. They're all but ignoring digital cameras, which is the most dynamic area of growth right now in camera sales, and this is going to hurt them a lot. When the market for compact p&s's shrinks (which it definitely will), Pentax will be deprived of their single greatest source of profit, and I can't see their low-volume items (bino's, 35mm SLR's, MedF, etc.) being able to keep the rest of the company in the black. If you look at digital cameras these days, it seems that everybody has a good foothold. Nikon, Olympus, Canon, Minolta, Sony, even Kodak.... all offer extensive lines of digital p&s's, with at least five or six cameras available at any one time. Pentax has two or three, and they're almost identical apart from resolution and nothing special as far as performance goes. So... where does everyone else see Pentax in a few years? chris
