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[OM] Re: Bad attitudes and Olympus Rants (SHORTER)

Subject: [OM] Re: Bad attitudes and Olympus Rants (SHORTER)
From: Steve Dropkin <steve@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2006 18:43:06 -0500
<Rambling response deleted>

Khen, what it comes down to is this: Olympus is no longer in a 
market in which they can toss out a technical improvement or two 
every couple of years and call it good.

Strangely, Oly seems to understand this when it comes to the digital 
point-and-shoot market. They're out there with new models and 
upgraded features every 6-9 months. Right now, in the U.S., Oly 
offers two dozen different DP&S cameras. I'll guess that almost all 
of them have a much lower profit margin than any E-thingy model and 
that those DP&Ss are sold to customers who are less loyal because 
they're not risking much money in moving to another brand next time. 
Despite this tough sales environment, Oly makes the effort.

So why not offer something besides a long song and dance to 
customers who have used Olympus SLRs for years (decades, even) 
and/or who bought an entry-level E-thingy and now want to (or have 
to) move up? Where do these folks go? How can Oly keep a straight 
face in calling the E-1 "Professional" (their term, on their U.S. 
Web site, not mine) when it offers a much lower pixel count, a 
smaller chimping monitor, and a different (smaller?) feature set 
than either of their other two (maybe eventually to be three) 
E-thingies? How can they insist that a four-year-old digital camera 
is still competitive when their competition has upgraded some of 
their models three times in that period? Is this any way to sell a 
"flagship" model? The E-1 should have been replaced -- possibly 
twice over -- by now.

Despite your suggestions that I can't possibly understand what goes 
on in an electronics manufacturing company (WRONG) and that I need 
to "understand" Olympus, let me suggest that you and Olympus America 
or Olympus Japan or whoever understand this:

I am a prospective buyer in one of the biggest sales markets in the 
world. I'm worth thousands of dollars in camera bodies and 
accessories and I'll spend that money -- if I'm getting what I 
need/want. I am not alone, on this list or in this market.

Olympus needs to sell cameras -- or they will die (at least the DSLR 
part of their company will). They have my goodwill as a happy 
previous customer. But if they want me to be patient in waiting for 
the next "pro" E-thingy, then they need to give me some concrete 
specs and an introduction date that their history shows they are 
likely to meet. (They can always bump up the specs or the intro 
date.) "Something" offered "sometime in 2007" doesn't cut it. 
Olympus also needs to be able to tell me that they are aware of 
current shortcomings in their products and that they _are_ 
addressing them.

Olympus' problem is that there are several other camera 
manufacturers out there -- Canyon and Nykon and Fuj! and Pentacks 
don't insist that I "understand" them or that I just trust them for 
my future business. They understand that if they don't offer the 
products I want to buy, I will go elsewhere. That's not a threat -- 
that's business. If Olympus cannot figure this out, then they'll end 
up selling their technology patents off to a competitor. There's no 
future in that.

If I didn't give a rip about Oly, I'd be gone by now. I want to see 
them survive and prosper. But I'm a realist. That's not trolling. 
It's not a personal thing with you or anyone else at Olympus (except 
maybe the hooyocks in Marketing who Just Don't Get It). It's just 
business -- and Olympus seems dangerously out of touch.


BTW, I didn't vote for that cowboy in the White House either time. 
I'll thank you to not include me in his little world.

Steve

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