Originally posted by Igor123 I'd guess KP using up lots of resources, while not selling well to either APSC flagship-people nor entry level...k70 seems great for the price but probably low margin, and then few lenses on top of that and with the initial k1 rush fading...it all adds up. But makes you wonder about what the plan was...sure, the superprimes are needed for the system to be well regarded, but with the expected prices and especially time to release and time in between them, they won't be cashcows I'd guess, and perhaps to far apart to have any shock-and-awe effect of pentax glass on the market.
Yes.. K-1 is yesterdays news... actually last years news. Without a fairly continuous lineup of lenses launching for it, it fades from the forefront. I think perhaps that is the only way to keep interest in the market on your camera, launch lenses+accessories for it. But Ricoh has not done that in over a year now.
Even if they do launch the 50 soon they had a pretty long gap of nothingness to allow the whole system to fade from people's minds.. they let off the gas pedal and momentum... at least from the customer's point of view. They may very well be scrambling to launch the new lenses but we don't see that... all we see is a roadmap and a printed lens mockup for a year. And now with new products from competitors coming out, it further gets forgotten, despite how functional the K-1 still is and will be for years.
That really is the biggest mistake Ricoh Imaging has had thus far.. not keeping new products continually coming into the market.. that pause is deafening to some.
Let me explain my thoughts a little further, since no one asks and most people assume (and for the worst at that) what someone else meant. I don't think the K-1 or Pentax are going away or will be discontinued anytime soon. I still think we see the new lenses slowly come out.. the main point I'm making here is they lost momentum for their FF system by essentially taking a year off releasing new products for it when there are still sizable gaps in the lineup (that are filled on the roadmap).
So one looks at the system as a whole and says 'Has what I need' or 'I think I can make that work' or 'Missing something(s)'. I'm suggesting also those in the 'Missing something(s)' group are larger than the 'Has what I need' and to keep this system alive they have to sell to that group. 'Has what I need' already got what they needed... It is the 'I think I can make that work' and 'Missing something(s)' where the money still lies. The people trying to make it work and are starting to look at other systems and those on the fence, with buying the K-1, might be as well. But they are still in need of one of those lenses not yet there. The silence isn't helping this!