Originally posted by jon404 Looking at the PR for the new Sony, the first thing that jumps out is the lens costs. Insane. Tell me -- if you were running Pentax, would you actually risk a lot of money making a camera that only a few people would buy? Does anybody actually want 24MP, let alone 36MP? Whatever for? There are very few professionals left... and, of those, VERY few who would ditch their existing Canikon gear collections. Forget that one.
What's left? Retiring baby boomers, who finally have time for photography hobby, share their images on the internet, and never print larger than 11 x 14. That's 16MP territory with cropping room to spare. But -- this group is price sensitive, and is NOT going to drop $1,000 on a lens. Not very often, anyway... the very rich 1% of this group is probably off in Leica-land anyway.
No. The K-3 is the perfect high-end camera for this demographic... and with the 16MP price range going down to the K-500, it's a complete lineup. All that's needed is to SELL it. Next time I get an AARP magazine, AAA's Westways, or National Geographic, I want to see a full page Pentax ad inside that front cover!
Y'know, 80% of statistics are made up on the spot.
From my personal experience (I'm Canadian, YMMV), addressing your points in (rough) order:
Lens cost too high? NO, it means the profit is high. Of course they want to sell that kind of glass!
It's LESS risky to make a niche camera than to make a model for Buy-n-Large but not be able to place it because the store buyers don't believe you have the capacity.
24 or 36 MP? For equivalent IQ, yes please. I cringe when a couple asked if they can have an image printed at 48" and I know I've already cropped the shot. In my town of 1 million there about 1000 individuals that claim to be pro photographers. How many actually only own a single body and kit lens? Probably half, but they do try VERY hard. Would they switch? Yup. Most want to trade up to a 5DIII or the D600, because they only have one or two lenses anyway.
Most of the Canon users (the non 1D crowd) are very surprised by the feel of the K5. I was equally surprised when I picked up a 5DII for the first time and thought it was a joke. Yes, they'll switch if they get the body in their hands. Canon ergonomics suck, at best it feels like a Playstation controller. At least Nikon makes real cameras for photographers, and not fauxtograohers. Sorry, end of rant.
This doesn't count the fact that every year there are that many new folks wanting to chase the dream or even just test the waters. I won't mention (much) the point about non-western markets; every year China graduates more genius level students from high school than the entire USA graduates students, period. I would assume India is the same. Wow.
How expensive is it for the 1% here? Not very. The top 1% of Canadians earn something like $190k+ per year, and that is just reported personal income, not net corporate income; so their are bigger $ being held as retained earnings for future years they want to take off and still draw dividends. Oh, and that's more than 270,000 people, and we are probably the smallest of the wealthy countries (not counting, y'know, Monaco...) I know folks who bought a 5DII as a family camera for fun. Dropping $500? That's a throwaway for a kids present on their 15th birthday. $5000? Dad wants a nice camera. $10000? Dad wants to be taken seriously. Anyone getting Leicas? I know of just one; he blew his bonus on it one year, figured 'oh what the heck'.
Those baby boomers? There are more of them in Canada today than there are working folks. Half are well off; the top quarter are so well off they know they can never spend it all (the other half? Cat food). A bunch are double or triple retirees (like my dad) - the last generation of them. Spending $5000 on a camera they enjoy is better than spending $100 a day on pills that make them 'better' (our healthcare ain't all free, or perfect).
I totally agree with the rest of your post.... The flagship K cameras have always been 'better', it's just hard to get them into the hands of the purchasers. At least here there are purchasers... Thousands of them. With no viable option they buy Canon, a few who might read up will buy Nikon, fanboys buy Sony, and fewer still discover Pentax.
If only we had the advertising you suggested...
Sigh...