I would not have played the "
we have not 'raised' the prices on any lenses" card. At the end of the day what is the difference between
"We have made it more expensive for you to buy lenses (in some cases almost doubled the price)"
vs
"We have raised the prices on lenses"?
Essentially, there is no difference and a customer does not care where the additional $700+ for a 50-135mm go.
If anything, a loyal Pentaxian would appreciate if extra money went to Pentax, rather than dealers. So I do not get how "We did not raise lens prices" holds up to sweeten the deal in any way.
I wonder in what way the
user comment Ned quoted is just "
pretty accurate". Maybe Pentax did not raise lens prices in the sense that they didn't raise the MSRP but potentially they could be raising the price they sell the lenses to retailers. Or in what other way could the quoted comment just "pretty accurate" rather than "spot on"?
Ned's message unfortunately does not clarify the motivation for making it more expensive for US customers to buy Pentax glass. Pentax USA has been operating with a different scheme for years and all the good reasons provided now (support B&M stores, etc) were applicable all along. So why the change? Did Pentax USA not want to "expand" before? I can only speculate that perhaps the "major National account" deal Ned refers to was only possible by Pentax committing to reign in online dealers.
Another unanswered question is how Pentax imagines to compete against Canikon with these prices. Isn't there a big chance that we may just see Pentax lenses at B&M stores but that they won't sell because they are just not competitive in terms of value for money (SDM issues + 1 year warranty for over double the price of Canon L glass?!?)?
Given that online retailers such as Adorama have generous return conditions and hence allow you to play with a camera much more extensively than you could ever in a store, I don't see the "touch and test the product" argument. I can see that more Pentax presence in B&M stores may increase Pentax exposure to a wider audience, but it does not appear to be true that anyone who is already interested in a Pentax product now has a better chance of "touch[ing] and test[ing] the product".
Rebate promises sound nice, but overall I'm concerned that many potential future Pentaxians will evaluate Pentax products on Adorama prices and not on occasional rebate prices.
In summary, Ned's message clarifies that the driving motivation for the unilateral pricing strategy is to strengthen Pentax presence in B&M stores, but AFAIC it leaves more question open than it answers.