Pentax and the PhotoPlus Expo

I have it on excellent authority that despite booking a booth at the PhotoPlus Expo in New York for its run Pentax were a no show

There was even someone else using their allocated booth !!

Have Pentax given up on North America ?

Even Casio with their P&S cameras [ good they may be - I'm not knocking them ] were present and a maker like Pentax with good cameras was not

I really do not think this was a sensible action by Pentax

I think they don't have so much money for booths at shows so they choose them wisely.

Stefan

New York Expo is HUGE - public only allowed in at the end - the first days are for professionals only .

Cameras of all shapes and sizes and types were there

except for ......

AND - remember they booked a booth and were listed as being present - but backed out .

They really can't afford to neglect the North American market like that

Stefan

they booked a booth - and will have had to pay for it . So why on earth throw money away in that fashion . There were plenty of Pros there who would have looked at the new cameras - now they can't so they will not consider them

Look here link

If someone else was using the booth allocated to Pentax then I guess Pentax, for whatever reason, withdrew in plenty of time for the booth to be resold.

Pentax never seem to do shows like that sticking mainly to the real biggies Photokina and PMA. Odd that they had booked and withdrew, but they have done that at European shows before now.

Ned Bunnell has been very quiet lately. His blog hasn't been updated for months, and that is odd. There was that one (very poor imho) interview with him at Photokina, but that's all. Maybe there are serious problems in Golden?

who knows ?

It does make me concerned when they book space , get their new cameras out and then do not appear at a big expo . Folk there wanted to see and 'play' with the new toys - and they couldn't.

It does not bode well for sales

Pentax WAS at the Photo Plus Expo. Their booth was between Olympus and Epson, and they had all their new gear, including the 645D.

Thanks for that info Yves .
Cheers me up no end.
Did you go?

http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-news-rumors/120343-pentax-@-photoplus-expo.html">target="blank">http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-news-rumors/120343-pentax-@-photoplus-expo.html

Linky no work Stefan, except to my email as an address for sending an e-mail

That's because someone on Pentaxforums.com put an @ in the title
Try this one link

Preceding that posted by Stefan, there was an[other] exhaustive discource there under the subject; Lack of Pentax retail support in the States similarly lamenting the perceived impression that Pentax was downsizing focus in the Nth American market region.

It's an interesting read too, raising many (local-to-them) observations supporting a progressive train of events, and behaviour by the company, not unlike the one you raise.

I can correalate similar vibes of the brand's presence and availability decline in my own country too.
eg. no Aussie has yet got their filthy claws on a K-5 or K-r here to date, local sourced and at any price. For all intents and purposes it could be vapourware down under. Yet you Eur-Brits can, and many have...

My own theory Fwiw; was and is that Hoya are likely just doing their mid to long term sums and plannings and reacting to facts like, Merkins are getting more inclined to be Canikonizers, unlike Europeans where Pentax seems to have a higher %age per capita penetration, and higher loyalty rate.

Plus the simple fact that Big Green Apples just ain't so big anymore (heads and egos excepted of course).
With a mere 310 or so million population paling in comparison to emerging powerhouse markets of China and India, where potential ~2.4 bn itchy fingers exist eager to press their own shutter buttons, and with less petty-predispositions for brand too.

Tables do turn... So please excuse me now while I get back to playing the fiddle while my City burns.

.R.
. "As ye sow, so shall ye reap."

Sure did. Unfortunately, I couldn't spend as much time as I would have liked.

The more I touch it, the more I think I'll get a 645D soon. Pentax K-5 be damned.

Since most of my work is in studio, I can do without the high ISO of the K-5. I can hardly wait to see what I can get with it using a 44 in. printer.

I see Pentax are at Photo Expo West next week. So anyone in San Diego with nothing to do could go and play there .

Oh and Yves if you go for the 645D you don't need to stay in the studio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrseh35DZis