I think Pentax is doing ok, with a couple of exceptions.
Look, Pentax can't compete with Canon and Nikon on their own turf , similar to the way Apple doesn't compete with Dell & Microsoft. Apple, BTW has been
going out of business for the last 20 yrs.
Canon & Nikon have deep pockets, a luxry that Pentax does not enjoy. And while the tech in say Canon's flagship bodies and lenses trickle down to the prosumer and consumer lines. Not all of Canon's L glass is that great. It's because Canon want's people to feel
part of the club. Hence, they release some L pieces that are just gussied up consumer fare. Doesn't matter that it's not a
real L piece they'll sell really, really well because of the branding.
Pentax, has to be really careful. Spending millions on a TV ad campaign would be high risk and it would be doubtful that such a push would sell enough cameras/lenses/accessories to be worth it. B&M stores are expensive to feed and and it's expensive to pay sales agents to get and maintain relationships with B&M stores. It's not worth the extra expense if the buyer ends up buying the stuff online after they
hold it at the B&M store anyway.
Pentax is a niche brand and that's what they seem to be trying to embrace. They can't saturate Wal-Mart and Best Buy and extend huge lines of credit to the Ritz's and Wolf's of the world. Look at the bags Nikon and Canon were left holding when Ritz/Wolf went bankrupt. Thank god that Pentax wasn't exposed like that.
That would have really put them in trouble.
Nope, Pentax needs to hang back. Try and build a loyal following and let that following do the selling for them. They need to keep costs down and try and restore some profitability. Hopefully, like Apple if it's done right profit margins more than make up for market share.
When I look at the images coming from say a DA* 60-250 f4 , it's clear to me that Pentax does indeed have a plan. That's one fine piece of kit that can more than hold it's own against any lens in it's class across the board. IQ, price, everything.
Apple doesn't sell $429 towers complete with 19" monitors with free shipping, 4 gigs of RAM and 300 Gig HDDs. There's no profit to be made there. Let Dell have it.
That's the way Hoya/Pentax is thinking and I think that's their best bet.
Regards,
Mike