Originally posted by Aristophanes Dumb idea.This idea would gut Ricoh's Pentax revenues to about 1/3 of their gross over a few years, destroying the company
Well, with that you are assuming pessimistically, that nobody would buy any pentax lens from then on. So you assume, that Pentax lenses qualities are so bad, and/or prices so high by now, that they couldn't compete with competition already today.
Even if you were right with this (which I'm sure you aren't, at least not to such a pessimistic extent), then this problem would also be a desastrous problem to Pentax, if they just leave things as they are.
I believe that the body makers' lens strategies and offerings (and 3rd partys' alternatives' availabilities) are critical for APS-C customers' decision making (on which system they join or leave), much more than the APS-C bodys themselves. It's very rare that someone declares abandoning his/her K-5IIs because he/she woudn't like this body any more (unless being forced by sudden special requirements, such as requiring tethering, or a pro flash system, or an instant FF upgrade, but all this isn't seen very often in forums really). Lens considerations seem more dominant overall.
Talking about lenses, I'm actually a bit worried about delays in Ricoh's lens arena as well; no updated lens roadmaps or otherwise declared strategies? Everything seems as if a bit stalled, for some while.