I saw a piece of statistics, or the analysis of them recently, on the overall camera sales in 2012, and according to that all camera brand sales were going down. Of all the camera brands, including dSLR's and MILC's, only Canon and Nikon were showing profit. But even their profit margins were shrinking. Everyone else, including Pentax, were showing losses in their 2012 results. So it appears to be that indeed all dSLR's don't sell these days. Everyone are struggling with the dilemma of slowly growing stock of unsold items, while they should be pushing out new models.
It is possible that soon the golden days are over even for Canikon. But unfortunately that doesn't automatically mean that it'll be a bonanza for Pentax. It just means that there is a big oversupply of cameras on the market, as people aren't buying them as much and as quickly as the mainstream players wants us to. Even planned obsolescence and herds of preconditioned gadget nerds with very short attention span will only help them thus far, after which the market is simply full. At least for a while.
Back in the day when Nissan was still called Datsun, the world was slightly different. But it all started to change in the mid-90's,when the internet became mainstream, and the change carried on for a decade or more. Today's winners are the likes of Walmart and Amazon, who control the delivery chain with minimum of effort and expenses. Others have to survive by adapting to different business models, and/or serving a smaller niche market.
BTW, Datsun and Toyota were the market leaders eleswhere, too, but outside the US, Honda never became a major player in the car market. Not even in the top 5, I believe. So if Honda did better in the US, that must be something they did to their sales and distribution, rather than to the cars themselves.
It doesn't really matter if your product is technically unique or even superior any longer. One could argue that Pentax are making much more interesting cameras than Canikon, Ducati and Triumph much more interesting bikes than Honzuyamasaki, Alfa-Romeo more interesting cars than Toyonissan, etc. Indeed they are, but it doesn't matter. Despite their impressive merits, all those aforementioned players are the underdogs in the market. What matters in the mainstream market is something quite different.
One could also argue that Apple's computers and OS were much more comfortable to use back in the day than the generic PC's and DOS/Windows, the Sony Betamax was technically superior to VHS, etc, etc, but again, it didn't really matter. Windows and VHS became the market leaders, anyway, and it had nothing to do with their technical merit, or with the products themselves. It was more about logistics and volumes.
Many people still can, and do gravitate towards Pentaxes, Ducatis, Alfas and so on, but the masses will still flock around the big mainstream giants, whatever they're offering. The mainstream masses won't buy a Pentax camera, until Pentax become mainstream, the new hip thing, and thus a brand that "everyone" is already using.
It is quite possible that Pentax might some day do a comeback in the mainstream and stick it to Canikon like you visioned, but the point is that it's not that simple any longer. Nowadays it's much harder than it was back in the days of Datsun and Pentax Spotmatic.
According to some business analysts, however, getting back in the mainstream may no longer be such a big deal, after all. Not for entities like Pentax, who wish to be unique and different. If you believe what business gurus like Seth Godin are writing, the likes of Pentax may well prevail in the niches, and the mass market mainstream is already crumbling. What matters is that you create value to your customers, a scarcity they won't find in the market oversaturated by Canikon and the Walmarts of the world.
So all in all, I for one am not worried about small brands like Pentax not making it back in the top, and sticking it to Canikon. I just wish they will remain innovative and passionate, and will come up with great products for the passionate niches, like the people here. If it's imperative for you to be in the herd of the "winners," by all means go and get yourself a Canikon.
Oh and by you I don't mean you Lauren, but just "you" in general.
Maybe, but looks like it could as well be Sony, for example, or even Samsung. Or both of them, or maybe together with Olympus and Pentax. Maybe there will no longer be just one next big thing, but several different things. I kinda hope the latter will be true. Monocultures are boring.
Anyway, because of the reasons mentioned above, if Pentax wishes to be the next thing, they will have to come up with something completely new. Just a K-3 with a FF sensor won't be nearly enough. But I'm not saying it couldn't happen. We'll see, eventually.
But this is drifting a bit off topic, isn't it? :)
I hope there will indeed be Jessop's and other traditional brick and mortar camera stores in the future, too, selling Pentax and other fine cameras, and not just umphteen different flavours of Canikon.