Originally posted by Kunzite The alternative being "Hey, stop buying anything! We'll have an amazing full frame line ready for Photokina!"?
Of course they won't tell us anything until the last moment.
I'm inclined to agree with this thought.
That's two recent interviews now that the FF question has been steered towards the 645D (and/or the K3). It makes perfect sense that Ricoh/Pentax should not want talk of FF to spoil potential sales of the 645D.
Same goes for the K3. FF k-mount would be the new k-mount flagship, so a release near to or simultaneously with the k-3 would have spoiled that product's sales. I also think the K-3 has been sufficiently 'milked' now, from a sales perspective, so a good time to start thinking about the next 'flagship' release...
I personally believe that development of FF is relatively mature (they already know what it's going to be, from interviews over the past six months), but has been carefully timed so as not to impact on sales of other product lines. Sitting, as it does, between TWO other lines, it makes sense to release it last. The low first (K3), then the high (645), then the middle (FF).
I still think a 'fall' announcement (which is actually spring where I reside) is not out of the question. The 645D should be over the initial wave of sales by then, so a great time to begin another new wave of sales. That would be over 12 months of very strong sales for the company, which is excellent strategic selling, and far more intelligent than releasing all three products (K-3, FF, and 645D) at the same time.
But...we've been down this road so many times before, and I'm just as likely to be wrong