Originally posted by ogl The confusion are only 2 cameras from Pentax.
K-7 - $1250
K-x -$650.
Olympus, Sony, Canon and Nikon offer big choice for the customers and nobody are in confusion.
Hoya is not smaller than Nikon, for example.
Of course there is confusion. Show a noob the Canon lineup and ask him/her which one he wants. Even after you explain all the differences between the various models, you'd still be lucky if the person can make up her mind based on the feature set. At the end of the day, they are likely to choose one model that most closely fits their budget (or, as often is the case, the one model immediately above it).
To me, that's a stupid way to purchase a camera.
Will the current Pentax lineup be able to satisfy everyone? Most likely not. That's
not the point. When you ask the question "should Pentax introduce an intermediate model between the K-x and K-7", you can't base your answer solely on whether such a model would attract more customers (which it certainly will), but also whether or not the number of new customers you will attract would be worth the R&D as well as Marketing, for this new model. If the answer is No or only Maybe, then it may actually be beneficial to keep away from that segment.
You should also remember that most customers, except for the first-time DSLR shooters (who will go for the K-x), are repeat customers, so an intermediate model will definitely cannibalize K-7 sales, perhaps resulting in an impact large enough to neutralize profits.
Also, I'm talking about market share, not company size. Hoya being a big company has got nothing to do with it.
Think MP3 players by Apple and Microsoft. MS is a much much bigger company. Does that mean MS should put out as many different models of their Zune players as Apple has iPod models? The answer is no, because the Zune market share is miniscule. Same principle.
Now, of course, I may be totally wrong and we may see a K300D later this year, at which point I will concede to you all, but as it stands, I just don't see it coming, and I actually believe it's a GOOD thing for Pentax to stay focused on the two models (plus the 645D, of course :-)