Originally posted by monochrome I distinctly recall over several years a constant refrain of loud complaints about P-USA marketing, C.R.I.S. service, telephone support, short warranties on Pentax gear, no presence in retail channel (touchy feely before buy), no lens roadmap, lousy autofocus, flash sync, fps, and the ever-present no FF.
It all costs money.
Ah, but if they have not raised the wholesale price they are not getting more money and hence have no more for those things. Also, with these staggering price increases I am pretty sure that sales (are there economic theories on this
) will tank thereby lowering income. In neither instance does Pentax have more cash flow to direct into the areas you have identified. It takes capital investment directly to improve the offerings in quality and range before premium prices can be reasonably commanded. Ricoh has started down that path but we have seen no improvement in QC, no genuine response to the SDM fiasco, no improvement in warranty length or quality of support, no improvement in CS from PentaxImaging, etc., etc., etc. So, they have no reasonable expectation that they can command a premium price because, sadly, they are not providing premium goods or services. This is why turning a company around is expensive, it requires capital up front to make the changes necessary to increase profits. That is not what I see happening here.