Originally posted by FantasticMrFox And why would that be?
You call them incompetent.
Jim Malcolm is one of the most respected executives in the photographic industry. I assert he knows exactly what he is doing and exactly why he is doing it. Looking at dpreview and the other review websites, that change of tone didn't happen in a vacuum. Ricoh Imaging reached out to them. Looking at the K-1 marketing micro sites, the sudden increase in professionalism, the correct English, distinctive graphics, the promises of content to come - that didn't happen in a vacuum. Ricoh spent serious money to hire a global brand image company to develop and write that. The lens testing lab idea didn't happen in a vacuum. It's a sophisticated idea, a way to leverage the unavoidable fact that there are 24 million legacy lenses in the marketplace. They know what they're doing. They're going to sell every K-1 they can make.
You don't know what Ricoh's marketing plan is. Neither do I. But indications are it is organized, thoughtful, realistic based on the damage done to the brand by Hoya - and allows Ricoh to control the message, something they HAVE to do at this point.
You and I don't know whether Tony might have his nose out of joint because he didn't get a free K-1 before dpreview. Maybe he competes with them. Maybe Imaging Resource got one and he didn't. Maybe Ricoh offered and he made demands Ricoh didn't want to meet. Maybe he's too video oriented. Maybe if Tony gets a K-1 200,000 people go into Best Buy, ask for a camera that isn't distributed there and give up on Pentax forever. Maybe Tony gets to be part of the rollout for the next product after the infrastructure is built. Maybe all kinds of things behind the scenes that Tony isn't telling and you don't know.
Pentax is not now and will never be CaNikon. Why should they market like CaNikon? They're guerillas. They're not doing what you expect, and that's why they're doing it. I don't know what they're going to do next, but I'm sure having fun watching!
One thing I do know. No one has any business saying Jim Malcolm is incompetent
Last edited by monochrome; 02-23-2016 at 08:09 PM.