[LRflex] Was: Church shots... Now: Leica planning.
- From: David Young <dsy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2008 10:00:46 -0800
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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