In a message dated 8/30/2006 3:10:07 A.M. Central Daylight Time,
castanet.xiosnetworks@xxxxxxxxx writes:
The company view
The stakes are very high. We are very small and vulnerable. Any secrets
thrown about and leaked out spells doom for us. Our enemies are huge and
powerful and they can stamp us out if we're not careful. We need to
rediscover our talents and skills and creativity. Whatever ideas we have, we
need to be very careful. We have a brand new camera but we must do what best
we can to make sure it's as perfect as our customers expect us to make them.
We accept now that there is no such thing as loyalty anymore. Safe for the
rarest around (such as those in this List), many can skip and hop away.
We also realize that what customers/loyalists/fans know about what they
want, we have already proven in 1972 that we can show things that change
their mind about what they think they know. We have the brio to do this but
we have to safeguard ourselves first. The cat is great but it's not the time
to let it out of the bag yet.
I have read the Open Letter quite awhile ago. My viewpoint is that I
understand how people feel but all the anger, disappointment, frustration
and venting of spleen aren't getting all of us very far. The company's
position is a very fraught one. I'd like to appeal to all of you to
understand the following:
a) Olympus Imaging Corp (not Olympus Corp or Olympus Group) is a very small
unit
b) We haven't been making money - how could we when we don't have the
inertia
c) We have admittedly made some mistakes in the past - - - marketing
mistakes mind you, not technical mistakes
d) We can only get things right first and once - - - we cannot afford to
make continual mistakes - - - film is more forgiving than digital in this
respect
e) Our REAL assets is our Creativity. We know that now. We have to safeguard
_it._ (mailto:it.@xxxxxxxxxx)
--
Khen Lim
XIOS Network Solutions
IBM Business Partner
+60 +16 528 6010 / 016 528 6010
Without going into a lengthy discussion of what Olympus has or has not done
as it relates to SLRs or DSLTs, as a consumer, I would like to see my team be
on the playing field, rather than on the side lines talking to the
cheerleaders while the game is going on.
There is no question of the creativity of Olympus, the real question I for
Olympus is where do they want to be in the Professional DSLR market. You know
what that market demands and if that is where you want to play and play
successfully, then you will need to meet or exceed those demands/expectations.
Were we to draw a continuum that represents the degree to which the major
players are responding to the wants/needs of the professional photographer,
Olympus would lag behind the others.
Were we then to draw another continuum to represent relative market share,
it would become apparent what the result is of not responding to your market.
You have high paid executives who understand this much better than I.
In the 40 plus years I've observed the photographic equipment market as a
consumer it has been a "what's next" market and that has been a relative fast
paced consumer driven market. As a user of equipment I want to buy those
things which will let me to do things I can not now do or to do current things
better. I want them to have features that the competition has in their
equipment line and perhaps some the competition doesn't have. I want my
system to
be a real choice among professional photographers who use DSLRs. From the
time I purchased my first OM camera in the 70's, there was never a question
about Olympus producing the "what's next" for their OM system.
It would appear things have changed at Olympus. I would hope this is not
true because of their legacy of being leaders and innovators in the arena of
professional camera manufacturers. It would appear that Olympus may have
painted themselves into a corner in the professional DSLR market. The
professional
e-whatever will need to:
1) Respond to what professionals want and have been asking for since the e-1
appeared on the market.
2) Be innovative enough to continue to set itself apart from the crowd,
while at the same time gaining professional market share.
3) Make a strong statement that Olympus is here to stay.
To have their current loyal installed user base languish in wait for much
longer and then to offer up something that is less than spectacular, would in
my
opinion put the nails in the coffin for Olympus. Bill Barber
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