[monochrome]

I am very comfortable with Ricoh owning Pentax for that reason - it is a good fit based on the business machine optics requirements (same as Canon) where R&D in the optics area carries multiple business line benefits. We are in a very interesting and disruptive period where some will no doubt become history and others will thrive.

I agree entirely with your sentiment. I argue with people who only see Pentax marketing efforts in the USA, cannot seem to understand why the Division operates as it does and then extrapolate what they see as failures onto the entire company.

[NZ_Ross]

I agree entirely with your sentiment. I argue with people who only see Pentax marketing efforts in the USA, cannot seem to understand why the Division operates as it does and then extrapolate what they see as failures onto the entire company.

Pentax are next to invisible here in NZ too, it is all Canon, Nikon and Sony - but that does not change the underlying dynamic.

Actual major international imaging sales growth in the next 2 decades will be in the rapidly rising Asian middle class - particularly China and India (think 700-800 million potential customers) . Their wants, tastes and requirements will be quite different from those of the USA, NZ or Europe. This is a relatively easy prediction to make as the USA, NZ, European markets are essentially saturated with 'good enough' camera gear.

Relatively few professionals or enthusiasts upgrading does not make for a viable long term business case unless you are in a specialist niche low volume manufacturer such as Leica, Hasselblad or Phase One.

Consider just how well the Q does in Japan compared with North America where it seems to be considered a novelty. Different tastes, different requirements.

As a result - it is extremely hard for us in the USA (or in my case in NZ) to predict what is working and what isn't, because we simply aren't where the important action is at the moment - that would be Beijing, Shanghai, Mumbai or Bangalore

[rawr]

As a result - it is extremely hard for us in the USA (or in my case in NZ) to predict what is working and what isn't, because we simply aren't where the important action is at the moment - that would be Beijing, Shanghai, Mumbai or Bangalore

True. China is already huge and India may be on the same trajectory. Korea is also a interesting hotspot too. But few of us here in forumland outside of those countries really have much of a clue about what the market dynamics are there, what Shanghai or Seoul consumers are thinking. Etc.

I am sure Ricoh is watching those markets very closely, but they are a total 'black-box' to me.

[philbaum]

That still doesn't answer what the high volume makers will do with their excess capacity.

Some combination of selling it off or diversifying it into other products like action cams :-), i suppose.

Or Drone manufacture Saw a show on drones the other day - many non-military uses for them. Farmers want to use them to monitor the condiition of their fields for weak areas rather than use a lot of manual labor. Real Estate firms say they are a lot more effective in showing prospective buyers the neighborhood of various properties than using other methods. Seattle Police Chief bought some drones to use against criminals but there was such a backlash from the citizens that he immediately sold them off to some city in California.