Originally posted by séamuis I fail to see how that makes them anything more than a brand. when they were Pentax Co. Ltd. they were the same company as Asahi Opt. Co. Ltd., just a new name. when hoya bought them, Pentax Co. Ltd. seised to exist. everything became the property of Hoya. that makes them a brand under the Hoya Co. where as before they were there own company. Pentax wasn't just a brand name of camera's etc, it was its own company, just like canon and nikon. now Pentax is still a brand name, but no company. everything may still exist internally the same, but they aren't there own company anymore. the name Pentax and everything that come with it is owned by Hoya and Ricoh. I'm no business expert, so if I'm wrong I'm wrong, but they way I understand it, that makes 'PENTAX' nothing more than brand owned now by two different companies.
Just my .02 here...
When someone refers to a company as merely a "brand", I think of something like the old GM structure, which had Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, etc. selling the same vehicles with (essentially) different trim packages. Or when the name "Polaroid" was purchased and then used to sell generic cheap electronics.
But if Pentax continues to have what we now consider to be essential Pentaxness - Pentaxicity? - that is, small, well-built bodies, and increasing amount of WR equipment, distinctive primes - then I don't see how anything gets lost. *If* Ricoh allows Pentax to continue to blaze the "Pentax Trail", then Pentax is a Brand with a capital B, in similar vein to Subaru (a Brand of Fuji Heavy Industries) or Rolls Royce (a Brand of BMW).