Hoya CEO: "We will not shut down this business.”
"...we will not shut down this business"
That's it then. A bit like the football manager whose job is safe. Sacked next week!
Frankly, the future of all marques is always dependent on continuing success and you'll be pleased to hear that Pentax is expected to be back in profit by March 2010.
The same cannot be said of some others, but they'll all survive for the forseable future anyway. Don't forget Konica Minolta didn't exactly disappear and their users might have felt the same way as dangie at one point.
We can't waste our time not living life because we're worried that something will happen that may never happen.
Why not upgrade now to a K20D and enjoy the enhanced photographic experience it will bring?
How many times had you actually had to contact the Company since you had your camera?
MG doesnt exist anymore but it doesnt seem to stop the plethora of MGB owners and "would be "owners.
Just enjoy I say. As I get older the saying " live for the day " means more and more.
Don't sweat the small things in life !
Howard
Lenses: DA18-55WR,DA50-200WR,FA50-1.4
If pentax would invest more in marketing then you also need more people for that meaning more money is needed and more they need to sell so then the question come how effective is marketing against the big boys?
Particularly in the current economic climate ANY company MAY go under in the next 12 months. If Pentax go under:
1. My camera will still work just fine, even more so if I have just bought a shiney new K7
2. My lenses will still work just fine, and there will still be plenty of lenses available, probably at substantial "going out of buisness" discounts.
3. In all probability someone will buy the remains of the company to get the rights to the K mount. Samsung spring to mind. Even if they aren't interested in Pentax as a going concern, if they have DSLR aspirations then it's much easier to buy a pre-made user base and build it up than to start from scratch. As long as SOMEONE is still making K mount cameras, we still have new cameras to drewl over, new lenses to buy and new people to flog our gear to if we don't like the way the new owners take the system.
I honestly don't think it's worth worrying about.
but it does help
Bodies: K20D (2), K10D, Super A, ME Super, Auto 110 SLR, X70, Optio P70
Pentax Glass: DA* 300, DA* 60-250, DA* 50-135, DA* 16-50, DA 70 Ltd, FA 31 Ltd, DA 35 Ltd, DA 18-55 (2), DA 12-24, DA 10-17, M 200, A 35-70, M 40, M 28, Converter-A 2X-S, 1.4X-S, AF 1.7, Pentax-110 50, Pentax-110 24
Other Glass: Sigma 105 macro, Sigma-A APO 75-300
Flash: Metz 58 AF-1 P, Pentax AF160FC ringflash, Pentax AF280T
if I had the disposable income I would buy a K7 right now no question.
Particularly in the current economic climate ANY company MAY go under in the next 12 months. If Pentax go under:
1. My camera will still work just fine, even more so if I have just bought a shiney new K7
2. My lenses will still work just fine, and there will still be plenty of lenses available, probably at substantial "going out of buisness" discounts.
3. In all probability someone will buy the remains of the company to get the rights to the K mount. Samsung spring to mind. Even if they aren't interested in Pentax as a going concern, if they have DSLR aspirations then it's much easier to buy a pre-made user base and build it up than to start from scratch. As long as SOMEONE is still making K mount cameras, we still have new cameras to drewl over, new lenses to buy and new people to flog our gear to if we don't like the way the new owners take the system.
I honestly don't think it's worth worrying about.
When Minolta dropped out, Warehouse Express were shedding Minolta glass. I got the 17-35mm for 149 quid. So good deals are there.
There's more going on to worry about, IF you have the spare time to worry?
Regards
In all probability someone will buy the remains of the company to get the rights to the K mount.
I am afraid that one of the key problems facing Pentax/Hoya and any potential acquiror/strategic partner is that the K mount backwards is a huge liability.
If you are selling dslr bodies, you also want to be selling the punters brand spanking new lenses at what must be hefty markups given these are basically pieces of glass stuck together in a plastic/metal case.
You certainly don't want them digging out and god forbid using 30-50 year old bits of glass the profit on which is long gone.
The magnitude of the industry "cross-subsidy" from lens sales on the total dslr operations is impossible to quantify given the limited accounting information the players release. However, even disregarding the issue of old k mount lens stocks cannibalising 'current' sales, this is undoubtedly a further reason why Pentax's tiny market share is such a serious business problem.
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455 posts
15 years
London
They pull this quote out:
“I don’t know whether we’ll go with Samsung or somebody else, but I can say that we’ll have a deeper relationship with some electronics guys. There will be consolidation in the camera business and a small player like us will be like a small boat on a rough sea. But let me be clear: we will not shut down this business.”
And as regards the last comment specifically ("let me be clear: we will not shut down this business") Suzuki has previously said in the recent Nikkei interview " Pentax camera division . . .may be sold to other company or become a independent company itself".
However, if the latter happens without the presence of a strong strategic partner the new company is highly likely just to burn through whatever financing reserves Hoya grant them at the time of a spin-off in short order, which would probably merely delay its winding up.
As I have previously mentioned the longer this drags on without the emergence a strategic partner the greater the chances become of such a spin-off. And with the division potentially able to deliver some kind of meagre operating profit for the just closed financial quarter and a reasonably attractive product line-up on deck, the expediency of a decision to cut Pentax cameras lose is unlikely to be greater any time soon.
However, the imperative of finding a strong partner - as opposed to some "electronics guys " - remains, and in this respect no news is in my view most certainly not good news.