Originally posted by RonHendriks1966 And they still need an investment to move forward.......the question is will Ricoh invest?
The camera segment isn't growing anymore, at best it is going to be flat , no company invest more money than they can get back in the short term (i.e not risky capital investment involved), it's going to be the case for all camera makers. I don't believe any camera company is increasing their headcount for new camera developments, they are reassigning the same staff to new projects, there's no new investment. Ricoh Imaging are going to do the same or stop: they keep a minimal team that they have to pay monthly anyway, and with that team decide what kind of product they do. Given market share, Ricoh Imaging won't be smaller, smaller would mean stop, so they are going to do the kind of product that they can do with the staff they have and they are going to take the time they need, regardless of the pace that the market demands. If it happens that it will not be profitable anymore, Ricoh will stop cameras. So, all that means if that new products have to be expensive products, nothing like Pentax Q, Theta, or maybe even apsc, possibly only Full Frame and Medium format. If customers don't want to wait for new high value products, Ricoh will lose more market share and fold the business. If customers can wait for the good products, Ricoh will still make money and they will not stop. That's what my crystal ball says