Originally posted by deejjjaaaa so (1) you do not know what the cost is, but nevertheless, w/o knowing it (2) you know somehow that it means VASTLY (sic) more expensive cameras
... show me the math then...
If you need it in simple terms then.
Nikon spends $1000 on R&D has a client base of 1000 who each buy a new camera. To obtain back the investment in R&D requires an increase in price of $1 and assumes all 1000 current clients will upgrade. Or an increase of 50 cents and assume only 50% of current client base will upgrade and a further 500 customers will be attracted to the new upgrade.
Pentax spends $1000 on R&D, now compared to Nikon, Pentax has 4 customers to obtain a return on the investment the current cameras will increase in price $250, assuming all 4 customers upgrade.
Or Pentax may hope to tripple their customer base to 12 and only increase it by $83. This still assumes 100% of current Pentax consumers will upgrade.
This is very simple and doesn't take into account marketing budgets, strategic marketshare positioning etc etc.
Pentax are building marketshare by pricing, perhaps when they reach a critical mass of marketshare they will obtain the funds necessary to improve AF on the basis of increased market return.
Till then do as I do MF; it aint that hard really.