Originally posted by fredcman Why do Ricoh keep on doing this. First the K5 and now the K3. If they're going to introduce a new flagship model, it should be a new model, with everything improved, not just a few little tweaks. As for removing the flash, how are we now supposed to use wireless flash??? or are they going to introduce a new range of flash models as well?
Nikon and Canon keep releasing cameras with minor improvements. The reason is marketing concept called "share of mind". The idea is to keep a competitive level in information flow to the public so that to keep building the brand image.
For instance, firmware updates are a way to keep the brand in the mind of existing customers, and releasing new products as well as sponsoring sport events are used to build and keep the brand in the mind of people. In addition, there's another marketing concept: product life cycle extension: the idea is to stretch the life cycle of a product and get more sales done with the same R&D expenditures. Introducing the K-5II and K-5IIs stretched the sales of the K-5 series to fill the time gap necessary to finish the design of the K-3. And the K-3II is also released to trigger additional sales from customers who did not feel the need for a new purchase when the K-3 was released (example if someone purchased a K-5 just before the K-3 was released, the money was already spent and that person did not buy an additional K-3). Nikon also release did multiple product life cycles extension with the D610 (same as D600, supposedly without oil on sensor) and D810 (life extension of the D800E).
So, if Nikon, Canon, Sony,are saturating the photo media channels (such as DPReview etc ) with releasing new cameras models with no much changes, Ricoh must also do it, otherwise, Nikon and Canon will still remain on the front page of DPReview, Imaging Resources, and DXO mark and Pentax products will not be visible at all. When Nikon introduce a D7200 which is almost the same as the D7100, they get new review articles in the front page of DPReview etc etc ..... It's kind a marketing war. If Ricoh did not respond, they'd be invisible.