[LRflex] Was: Church shots... Now: Leica planning.


Charlie offered:


David,
   Interesting times indeed.  It's that sort of short term thinking
that gives me the willies.
An interesting story about P&W. However, speaking as someone who has run my own business for 30 years, I have to put a slightly different spin on things.
While your story of P&W is absolutely valid, P&W was not financially "on the ropes" at the time.
When a firm is down to the wire, sometimes short term decisions must be made that are, in fact, detrimental to the long term effort. Still, if those decisions are not made, the alternative is often that there is no long term to worry about! When Kaufmann/Lee took over, Leica was in such a position. Not long before, the banks had cut off Leica's credit, and the firm was expected to be gone in under 30 days.
Rushing the M8 may have been and expensive route to go, in terms of the after service required and the loss of faith, in the firm, by customers. But, was there really an alternative? 


Do you think speaking out of turn about a
full frame M-8 may have been the terrible thing?
I suspect not. Dr. Kaufmann hinted at a full frame M9 as early as last October, at the LHSA meet, in Rochester. Whether it will come to pass, or whether a full-frame upgrade for the M8 will be available remains to be seen. 

Cheers!
---

David Young,
Logan Lake, CANADA

Limited Edition Prints at: www.furnfeather.net
Personal Web-site at: www.main.furnfeather.net
Stock Photography at: http://tinyurl.com/2amll4

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