Olympus-OM
[Top] [All Lists]

RE: [OM] Olympus in Tokyo

Subject: RE: [OM] Olympus in Tokyo
From: David Hughes - SHR <Dave.J.Hughes@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 09:34:59 -0500
When I bought my first OM-1, Olympus products were imported by a company
called Ponder and Best, which also was the U.S. agent for Vivitar - back
when Vivitar was also highly regarded.

When did Olympus leave Ponder and Best for their own U.S. agent ?  Was the
change initiated by Olympus, or was Ponder and Best in financial
difficulties ?

/Dave

        ----------
        From:   PCA Cala[SMTP:PCACala@xxxxxxx]
        Sent:   Wednesday, March 25, 1998 12:51 AM
        To:     olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
        Subject:        Re: [OM] Olympus in Tokyo

        Hi Tomoko and others:

        << If Olympus America can do a better job of recapturing some
segment of the
        photography market for the OM system, we would all feel more
comfortable about
        the future of our cameras. >>

        It is no wonder that the market for new manual focus camera
equipment has all
        but dried up in North America.  First and IMHO foremost, most
Americans buyers
        favor the latest and (according to successful marketing) "greatest."
John
        P.'s commentary on the Darlington is a great case in point
illustrating the
        herd principle of folks following what appears to be the choices of
the
        masses.  Microsoft's product dominance with MS Office suite
applications would
        be a parallel comparison in computing.  Only the rebels, die hards,
price
        conscious, uninformed, and other hard to market types buck the trend
and use
        competing products and fight (or ignore) the "fear, uncertainty and
doubt"
        that Microsoft's marketing machine instills upon us.  I offer that
Canon and
        Nikon, and the banner carrying photography magazines, have sold many
on
        systems that may not really suit their needs and temperments.
(Example, who
        needs a motor driven 35mm camera for landscapes!).  Furthermore,
their
        marketing dominance have led us to question the shelf life of
competing
        products.

        Second reason for the dying product lines: there is a strong used
equipment
        market, esp. with road shows.  If you want bargains without much
shopping
        effort, this is the place to go!  Low demand for new = higher unit
prices.  So
        why buy new?

        Third, selling and buying over the Internet has seen explosive
growth.  Do we
        not see equipment getting bought right here just minutes after
appearing in
        our e-mail boxes?  Net result is that the manual equipment is easy
to get,
        albeit the bargains may slip through our fingers.  So why buy new?

        Faced with those three realities, how can those camera companies,
who flooded
        the No. Amer. markets with manual focus products in the 1970s
through the
        lates 1980s, see their product lines survive?  They can't!  There is
SO much
        used manual equipment available in certain parts of the world that
is a simple
        matter of supply and demand.  The Internet-based vendors now seem to
be
        contributing to more equally distributing the supply worldwide.  The
high
        prices we Americans often see in many Shutterbug advertisers and on
their WWW
        sites are much more attractive to foreign buyers.  And the stuff is
flowing in
        that direction.  When used equipment stocks start getting low there
might be a
        chance for a new initiative.  But there has to be something in the
product
        that commands our attention.  WE know what it is in the OLY OM
lineup, but
        other folks may just have too much fear, uncertainty, and doubt.
Clearly, OLY
        America's marketing hasn't done much to fight that, even with some
stellar
        products.

        I've also heard that OLY America blew it by requiring a rather large
minimum
        equipment inventory to be an OM dealer.  That greatly decreased the
sources
        for new equipment, prices increased and demand dropped.  But that is
a
        different story which has perhaps been discussed here before.

        Gary Reese
        Las Vegas, NV

        < This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
        < For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
        < Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >


< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Sponsored by Tako
Impressum | Datenschutz