[luftfluss]

is Ricoh good at DSLR?

They are now.

[luftfluss]

One unprofitable company buys other unprofitable company to be profitable...
Interesting movie...

It's been (sort of) working for AMD & ATi, so we can hope!

[noaslplease]

I'm just going to stay optimistic.
Right when I heard this news, I was pretty mad, but now, I think Ricoh has the potential to do some pretty great things! I'm pumped!

[Kenn100D]

Will see by October 2011 the news from Ricoh. Staying with Pentax/Ricoh will be dependent on Photokina 2012 next year. They have a year to come-up with the replacement of K-5. It's a BIG challenge for Ricoh.

[lammie200]

+1 on all of this.

I particularly like this line: "Let us just hope the Ricoh camera trends of high-price niche, poor marketing, and poor historical decision making change with this purchase."

Really, this news is in some ways quite shocking--rumors of Hoya looking for a buyer for the camera business had pretty much dried up. Let's just say, it could be worse. After all, Pentax only sold for $124 million. Pentax costs other camera companies a desent bit of sales compared with that number, and don't at least one of the big companies liscence Pentax anti-shake patents? So any of the big camera companies could have bought Pentax just to kill it and take the patents (and maybe keep the 645D and finally have entry into medium format). Nor did it go to an electronics company that might not understand the needs of DSLR users (to say the least). Considering the price, why did Samsung not buy Pentax? Clearly they could have afforded it. It tells me that 1. they have confidence in their brand name now, and 2. they see NX as the solution--they have no need for DSLRs and for a company that makes them anymore. So at least it went to a proper camera company (at heart). They are rather quirky, but so has Pentax been since the digital switch. Let us just hope the Ricoh camera trends of high-price niche, poor marketing, and poor historical decision making change with this purchase.

Really, this is a great purchase for Ricoh. Or at least, it can be if they manage it right. But they have bought one of the biggest names in amerature/professional photography, one far better than their own, and bought it for a song. They completely got left behind on the digital switch in the camera buisness, and now they have the chance to regain everything they lost. I think it's pretty clear that Ricoh (unlike say Hoya) wants Pentax camera for everything Pentax camera--both the name and the product lines. Ricoh certainly has the money to now make this work, and that they are purchasing Pentax suggests that they want to drop some money now to become a player in cameras again.

The only (and the biggest) question remains how will things work out. Will there be a clash of corporate cultures? Will they be able, for the first time in over 20 years, to be able to effectively market Pentax (goodness knows they havn't been very effective at marketing their own camears)? How much will they care about non-Japanese sales and support? Will they care about lenses? I'm certain they won't drop the Pentax name (it's better than their own), but we may indeed see Ricoh Pentax.

The best thing Ricoh can do right now is reach out to the Pentax community and expain their plans for the Pentax camera division. They have to assure people the K-mount will continue, and so they are safe to keep purchasing. Second, release a lens-roadmap with an agressive schedule of new releases. That will really bolster confidence in the new ownership and future direction of Pentax. This really could be a great devolpment for all of us Pentax users, and I will say I don't think we could have found a better buyer than Ricoh.

[macTak]

I can't belive it's been this long without someone putting up some info on the leaders of Ricoh, so let me get the ball rolling.

Chairman:
Masamitsu Sakurai
68 Years Old
Masamitsu Sakurai, Chairman of the Board and Representative Director. Apr. 1966 - Joined the Company; May 1984 - President of Ricoh UK Products Ltd.; Apr. 1990 - General Manager of Purchasing Division; June 1992 - Director; Apr. 1993 - President of Ricoh Europe B.V.; June 1994 - Managing Director; Apr. 1996 - President and Representative Director; June 2005 - Representative Director (Current); June 2005 - President; June 2005 - Chairman of the Board (Current); Apr. 2007 - Chairman (Current). Principal business activities and other principal directorships performed outside of Ricoh: Chairman of Japan Association of Corporate Executives Vice President of Japan Business Machine and Information System Industries Association Representative of Asahi Insurance Company Corporate Auditor of San-Ai Oil Co., Ltd. Director of Millea Holdings, Inc. Director of Coca-Cola West Holdings Co., Ltd.; Director of Saga Television Station Co., Ltd.; Director of Omron Corporation.

President and CEO:
Shiro Kondo
60 Years Old
Shiro Kondo, Representative Director. Apr. 1973 - Joined the Company; July 1999 - Deputy General Manager of Imaging System Business Group; June 2000 - Senior Vice President; Oct. 2000 - General Manager of Imaging System Business Group; June 2002 - Executive Vice President; June 2003 - Managing Director; Oct. 2004 - In charge of Imaging Engine Solution Development; Oct. 2004 - General Manager of MFP Business Group; June 2005 - Director; June 2005 - Corporate Executive Vice President; Apr. 2007 - Representative Director (Current); Apr. 2007 - President (Current); Apr. 2007 - CEO (Chief Executive Officer) (Current).

Here is a very interesing piece with quotes by Kondo (here:Sustainable Growth: A Holistic Approach)

"Sustainable Growth: A Holistic Approach

Japan’s “power brands”—Toyota, Sony, Panasonic and others—have become household names because the big manufacturers focus on B2C business, selling goods to individual consumers around the globe. However, another big Japanese firm is attracting considerable attention these days, even though its main business is B2B.

Ricoh’s principal customers are corporations, the kind of clients that are less interested in big brand names and more interested in performance, reliability and service. This is the market where Ricoh has grown tremendously in just the past decade.

“Our sales have almost doubled and our profits roughly quadrupled in that time,” says Shiro Kondo, the company’s youthful, energetic CEO. “Last fiscal year, both our sales and profit figures recorded new highs. And,” he adds with a smile, “we’re just getting started.”

Kondo could also mention that Ricoh’s sales figures have risen for 13 years in a row, with its ROE hovering around 11%. What consumers are about to find out, investors have known for years.

For many years, the main pillar of Ricoh’s growth has been its popular line of reliable, high-performance office equipment—multifunction printers, fax machines and the like—and this is not about to change, according to Kondo.

What has changed is the company’s approach to its business.

“We know that great technology alone is not enough,” Kondo explains. “I always ask our staff, ‘What is our corporate DNA? Is it just good R&D? Or is it about using technology to create real customer value?’ We have to figure out what our customers want before they tell us… This is how we became a genuine solutions provider, and that has made all the difference.”

In addition, Ricoh is keen to prove itself in the consumer world, as part of its drive to enhance its brand globally. Judging by the success of the pro-spec GR Digital camera, the company is off to a very good start.

“What is our corporate DNA? Is it just good
R&D? Or is it about using technology
to create real value for customers?”

Kondo is also thinking strategically about future paradigm shifts. “Demand for traditional commercial printing is declining,” he notes. “In its place, we will see steady growth in on-demand printing; that is, corporate printing done in-house. Data security is also a growing concern for many companies.” In June 2007, Ricoh established a joint venture with IBM to service this expanding market. “We plan to be the #1 player in this field,” the CEO says confidently.

To support that growth process, Kondo is a strong proponent of corporate education for everyone from line workers to top managers. Everyone can benefit from further study, he believes, including the CEO. “There are so many things in business I wish I had studied. I particularly enjoy reading about how leading companies in the U.S. and Europe developed their own educational programs. I want to combine the very best ideas from overseas with my own views about how to build a culture of corporate excellence.”

Another key concern is the environment. Ricoh has long been a leading Japanese proponent of CSR (corporate social responsibility). The company supports a number of CSR-related initiatives, and environmental concerns in particular are a top priority for Kondo. “We who make technology must remain constantly aware of its impact on the world, both for good and bad. We therefore conduct our global operations from a sustainable management point of view.”

Ricoh is fast becoming one of Japan’s power brands. It is a unique company in some respects, and at its helm it is fortunate to have a strong, visionary CEO committed to serving his customers, his employees and the planet as a whole.

--An engineer by training, Shiro Kondo joined Ricoh in 1973, where he immediately found himself engaged in product development. His remarkable rise through the ranks was marked by a strong flair for innovation and a desire to provide continuing education to employees, particularly in technical fields."

[wll]

Ricoh is EMPTY PLACE at photo market. New direction could be the death of K-mount.

Its always nice to hear your up beat thoughts !

wll

[stormcloud]

what worries me about this is, how deep is ricohs pockets - hoya had nice very deep ones and brought us some rather nice new cameras - if ricoh cant keep up the r&d expenditure pentax will be dead very quickly and its a shame as we were finally catching up and in some areas overtaken the competition at long last

[Ubuntu_user]

If they keep the Pentax name and introduce more lenses and FF, then I'm all over this. Wow!

[wll]

what worries me about this is, how deep is ricohs pockets - hoya had nice very deep ones and brought us some rather nice new cameras - if ricoh cant keep up the r&d expenditure pentax will be dead very quickly and its a shame as we were finally catching up and in some areas overtaken the competition at long last

From what I have heard Ricoh has deeper pockets than Hoya.

If someone could check ?


wll

[MRRiley]

EVIL + DSLR market: Pentax is 1.5% of market.
P&S from Pentax are almost unknown.

My point was, when you consider the myriad of brands of cameras and include both DSLR and P&S & other compact sales the claim that Pentax is 10th makes sense.... SO WHAT?

In DSLR sales we rank 3rd or 4th... Trouble is there is such a gap between 2nd and 3rd that Pentax and Sony and Sigma and Olympus, etc dont add up to even half the market share of Canon or Nikon.

Hopefully Ricoh will get serious about changing that.

Mike

[krebsy75]

The more I think about it only good can come from this. Aside from the K-5 and Kx (much credit goes to Sony for their sensors) Pentax has made no strides since the Hoya merger.

- Quality control has gone down.
- New product development has been few and far between.
- Market share further eroded.

The Pentax brand has many benefits as we all know. There's also significant potential to position Pentax as a valid alternative in the mind of consumers. Now is the time for Ricoh to do something with it and take a bite out of Canikon sales.

[ilico97]

From what I have heard Ricoh has deeper pockets than Hoya.

If someone could check ?


wll

You're right.

1 SONY CORPORATION 12.8T Yen
2 Panasonic Corporation 8.3T Yen
3 CANON INC. 3.9T Yen
4 RICOH COMPANY,LTD. 2.3T Yen
5 OLYMPUS CORPORATION 1.1T Yen
6 NIKON CORPORATION 740.6B Yen
7 HOYA CORPORATION 549.7B Yen
8 Tamron Co.,Ltd. 50.1B Yen
9 SIGMA KOKI CO.,LTD. 12.8B Yen

[Blue]

Hoya is keeping the Pentax name for the medical stuff. How this will impact the use of the Pentax name in the photography acquisition by Ricoh remains to be seen. I hope we don't endup with a situation like Sony ran into when they acquired the photography line from Minolta-Konica where M-K kept the name soly for their copeirs etc.

[cyclingshooter]

...Maybe it will be a good thing - I don't know.

I have always been leery of Ricoh products ever since I was burned on one of their autofocus Mirai cameras in the 90's. Total POS. Hailed as innovative, but faulty in reality. It was very expensive as well.

While everyone else is tilting toward mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras as the next big thing, Ricoh's flagship model has interchangeable lens with integrated sensor modules. I can only venture a guess as to the high price the consumer is subject to by acquiring this system over others. Innovative? Maybe. Complicated? Definitely. Necessary? Not sure, but guessing it isn't.

If Ricoh is serious about the camera market it should drop its brand and put Pentax in the forefront. Dump loads into R & D, production, quality control, and marketing. There may be room to challenge the big two or three for more market share, but the Ricoh brand isn't going to do it.

EDIT: DAMN! I just rewrote my post because I thought that I screwed up. Oh well, nevermind.

Maybe you screwed up the last Ricoh as you did your post...Pentax will be fine.