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Price increase M8 and WATE


Knorp

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Just received this news letter from LeicaBeiMeister:

 

PREISERHÖHUNG für LEICA M8 angekündigt !

 

LEICA hat soeben angekündigt, daß der Preis der LEICA M8 zum 01. Oktober 2007 um Euro 600.- auf dann EURO 4.800.- erhöht wird. :eek:

Bis dahin sollten Sie sich also entschließen und Ihre Bestellung noch aufgeben.

2_trennlinie1.gif

Ebenso erhöht wird der Preis für das LEICA TRI-ELMAR 16-18-21mm auf stolze Euro 4.700.-. :eek:

Schnellentschlossene erhalten bei uns noch bis zum 15. August das Tri-Elmar zum alten Preis von 3.500.-.

 

Hurry Folks !

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Rough translation:

 

Leica just announced that the price for a Leica M8 will increase by October 1, 2007. Increase will be 600 €, the M8 will cost 4800 €. You should decide and send your order before October 1.

 

Price increas for the WATE as well: it will cost 4700€. The lens will be available for 3500€ at Leica bei Meister until August 15.

 

Best,

Norbert

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Guest guy_mancuso

OUCH!!! this is starting to hurt. I can see the WATE maybe go up but the M8 I find a little hard to believe. Just glad i bought my stuff when i did.

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Are they possibly only selling the WATE with finder now? That could explain some of the increase.....if not, how much for the WATE with finder!!!!!

 

The lens+finder package is currently priced around 10% more than the lens alone so this cannot explain the price increase.

 

I guess if the price increases are true and other current lenses follow suit then the new range of Summarits are going to be more important than we probably thought. Over £3k for the F4 WATE is silly money. Isn't the new Zeiss 18mm something like £700? Thankfully my Leica lens buying days are largely behind me.

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Hi There

It doesn't really surprise me - they seem to be able to sell all they can make, and compared to the relationship between the M7 and top Nikon and Canon bodies the M8 has always been rather cheap. Added to which it's the only digital rangefinder - putting the profits up a bit seems like a no-brainer to me!

 

The new lenses are interesting though - I wonder if they are considering a cheaper rangefinder body to go with them?

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Hi There

It doesn't really surprise me - they seem to be able to sell all they can make, and compared to the relationship between the M7 and top Nikon and Canon bodies the M8 has always been rather cheap. Added to which it's the only digital rangefinder - putting the profits up a bit seems like a no-brainer to me!

 

The new lenses are interesting though - I wonder if they are considering a cheaper rangefinder body to go with them?

 

jono,

agree with everything you say, the problem for me is the size of the increase on the WATE, thats just taking the p***.

I wasnt ever in the market for one to be honest, but while I am prepared to pay for quality, I do object to being taken for a mug, and a 30% price increase falls right into the category of taking your customers for a bunch of mugs!

Guy

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I think Leica should have 3 levels of pricing on the lenses.

 

1. The money is no object exotics. Like the Noctilux. They may have only 1 or 2 in thsi category.

 

2. The fast primes like the 28/2, 35/1.4, 50/1.4, 75/2 based on the latest in optical technology ($2500. to $3,500 USD)

 

3. The 'classic' line, focused on compact size, more traditional and less expensive to manufacture optical formulas and reasonable speed f/2.8, f/2.5 for normal lenses and f4 or f4.5 for the ultra wides at a lower price point ($900 - $1600).

 

That should provide the full range of users with good choices in every category.

 

They should keep the body price's as lean as possible as you need them to buy the body to sell the lenses.

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The old WATE price of €3500 includes the finder, so hopefully, the €4700 price does as well.

 

Worth also pointing out that while the low dollar is bad for US consumers, it's good if you're buying commodities priced in dollars, so I expect Leica will be benefitting from buying things like the sensor, DSP, processors, memory chips, ADCs which will likely be priced in dollars.

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Guest sirvine

I don't really see how raising prices is screwing customers. Demand drives the price, after all. Leica is rare in that it actually raises prices on a consistent basis, but I'd rather put the premium back into Leica's R&D budget than pay it to eBay sellers and shopkeepers.

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Hi Guy

jono,

agree with everything you say, the problem for me is the size of the increase on the WATE, thats just taking the p***.

I wasnt ever in the market for one to be honest, but while I am prepared to pay for quality, I do object to being taken for a mug, and a 30% price increase falls right into the category of taking your customers for a bunch of mugs!

Guy

 

I suppose it depends on how much profit they were making on it in the first place? It's possible they decided to sell it near to cost as they felt that it's existence was vital to the success of the M8 - if they now feel that's secured then it wouldn't be silly to put the price up so that they DO make a decent profit.

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