LEICA's intentions

[pappde]

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I would like to hear your opinion regarding what might be LEICA's intention not announcing an approximate date for the X1 release.

For me it makes no sense not letting the interested folks know when will the camera be available and if there is a delay what is behind it.

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[like_no_other]

I would like to hear your opinion regarding what might be LEICA's intention not announcing an approximate date for the X1 release.

For me it makes no sense not letting the interested folks know when will the camera be available and if there is a delay what is behind it.

 

We know approximately that the launch date will be end of Jan, beginning Feb.

I don't know if the following is true but it could be:

maybe it helps for understanding to get a the point of view of a company that is on one side very fearful to make mistakes with people working for that company who do their best and on the others side a company that knows that they have to launch their product as soon as possible to make the money that they need to survive. This company always tries to improve the product up to the last moment because they fear the customer reactions that they will receive for a faulty product or a product that is worse than the compection regarding a few respects. They could fear as well the reaction for an announced launch timetable that is not fulfilled or for not being able to ship enough products after the launch. They could be full of fear for everything that was critizized about the last 3 or 4 years.

Could we wait for 1 or 2 months. I think we can.

We know that they have to play the game of being the perfect camera manufacturer as well.

[jsrockit]

Pappde....do you have one on pre-ordered? If not, the release date might not matter to you. What I mean is I bet there are a lot of pre-orders to fill before they are just available.

[stkorn]

I suspect they are working very hard to improve as much as possible the issues that early reviewers/users identified with the pre-release units (manual focus scale, AF speed,etc.). I would do the same if I were them, its better to get it right now while they still can.

[Hektor6644]

Hi:

 

Actually I do not care if it is released in June 2010 - just get it right. Look at the Nikon 70-200 VR II fiasco. First it is only 128mm when close focusing and now the peeling inner coating, just behind the front element.

 

Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII problem seems to be wide spread | Nikon Rumors

 

Hektor

[h00ligan]

@like no other - the blog post in your sig is a clear attempt to stir the pot and draw page hits. It's a joke. I don't mean this to be offensive to you - but honestly, reread that article and position yourself against. There's more than enough there to point to the previously mentioned. I'm actually surprised people seem to regard this site so highly - with or without a background in photography - words are another art form.. one not mastered by the blog post.

 

@jsrockit - FWIW, I broke down and preordered one, from amazon. That said - I may cancel it, depends how long it takes and how much I take to the GF-1 - which has really surprised me so far.

[LuxBob]

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The recent Leica story amazes me. They were way behind the ball and close to collapse, somehow, by sticking to their principles they haven't just managed to revive but look like they stand a chance of thriving again with a great line-up and new appreciation in the market. Important behind all this is the brand and what it stands for - quality, tradition and precision. German companies have never been famed for their marketing skills or adherence to market logic - they engineer quality products and expect them to sell on tehir merits and Leica is another example of this. teh X1 looks liek a real winner but from my point of view, the AF and MF issues area drawback. If teh company are working on this, well done them, they cannot afford to put out products that do not support their branding even though I suspect taht tehy cringe at the use of teh word branding.

Compare them to Apple - the most infuriating company I know in terms of pretending that the customer does not exist and not giving any idea about updates or new launches. Long may Leica and its engineering thrive.

[Guest stnami]

Apple turnover stuff about every 18 -24 months depending on the product and its sales and have so for a decade. Updates are automatic if you set your gear up properly to receive them

[NZDavid]

The recent Leica story amazes me. They were way behind the ball and close to collapse, somehow, by sticking to their principles they haven't just managed to revive but look like they stand a chance of thriving again with a great line-up and new appreciation in the market. Important behind all this is the brand and what it stands for - quality, tradition and precision. German companies have never been famed for their marketing skills or adherence to market logic - they engineer quality products and expect them to sell on tehir merits and Leica is another example of this. teh X1 looks liek a real winner but from my point of view, the AF and MF issues area drawback. If teh company are working on this, well done them, they cannot afford to put out products that do not support their branding even though I suspect taht tehy cringe at the use of teh word branding.

Compare them to Apple - the most infuriating company I know in terms of pretending that the customer does not exist and not giving any idea about updates or new launches. Long may Leica and its engineering thrive.

 

Apple aside, the comments on German companies are interesting. Having been on a media tour to study design, sustainability and the creative industries, as well as my outsider's point of view having lived and worked there, I'd say you're right on the money.

 

Leica is not a big company, certainly not compared with the Japanese giants. I agree absolutely, it pays to get the product right! So there are howls of discontent and critics run wild -- too bad! At least it gives Leica a chance to, hopefully, fix the bugs before the camera is released.

 

Other smaller German companies take even longer -- for example, there's a long waiting list for Damasko watches (not that I have one, Stowa is also a small company but with much faster delivery. But I digress.)

 

Aren't we an impatient lot these days!

[Guest stnami]

They could have got it right in the first place, no need to give it to reviewers to notice the bugs that are pretty obvious, unless there is no such quality/technical control ..there seems a lot riding on hopefully

[LuxBob]

Apple aside, the comments on German companies are interesting. Having been on a media tour to study design, sustainability and the creative industries, as well as my outsider's point of view having lived and worked there, I'd say you're right on the money.

 

Leica is not a big company, certainly not compared with the Japanese giants. I agree absolutely, it pays to get the product right! So there are howls of discontent and critics run wild -- too bad! At least it gives Leica a chance to, hopefully, fix the bugs before the camera is released.

 

Other smaller German companies take even longer -- for example, there's a long waiting list for Damasko watches (not that I have one, Stowa is also a small company but with much faster delivery. But I digress.)

 

Aren't we an impatient lot these days!

I live in Luxembourg, next door to Germany where I spend a lot of time working with German companies. One large well known company that I know, mainly uses its marketing department to write documentation and uses the internal motto 'We under promise and over deliver.' I think it could be said for many companies in that country.

I am really happy for Leica that they seem to be heading in the right direction and although I have no direct knowledge of them, if they are like a lot of German companies, there is only one way to do a job - properly and that's the way that they will do it. Thus, we should be grateful (in a perverse way) that the X1 may be delayed because the odds are that they will deliver a better product. There aren't many companies that I gush about.

Afterthought. From time to time we pass Wetzlar on the autobahn and so I have just looked up this page http://en.leica-camera.com/service/leica_plant_germany/ - basically a 2 hour guided tour of the factory. I don't know why we haven't done it before. My wife is from Frankfurt which is not too far away and I think there is even a family connection to Wetzlar.

[jsrockit]

@jsrockit - FWIW, I broke down and preordered one, from amazon. That said - I may cancel it, depends how long it takes and how much I take to the GF-1 - which has really surprised me so far.

 

Cool, I haven't had the balls to pre-order yet. I will make up my mind soon though.

[pappde]

OK. After all this talk I called LEICA USA today. They are in Allendale, NJ and spoke with a Mr. Mark Brady. On LEICA's webpage his name is listed to ask questions regarding your pre sales issuse.

He was vey nice. According to him: he spoke with "upper management a few days ago, and the January release was still on and gave no reasons (firmware upgrade, etc.) for the delay. As he phrased it there are still more than two weeks left from the month and can be "on time". After pressing him a little more he admitted that he would be not surprised if the actual release would be in February.

So there you have it!

[grober]

Having lived through the early teething problems of the M8 -- which was released before it was fully ready -- I would rather wait a month or so to get my already pre-ordered X1. Let's all hope Leica Camera has learned some lessons from the M8 debut disaster.

 

Leica Camera is a quality legacy manufacturer that has had to quickly learn a brutal regime of new QA practices for this electronic age. Not the only company to go through this meat grinder of forced change but none the less, it's still very frustrating for we their loyal customers.

 

-g

[Guest]

It'll be worth it to wait, we'll see. It is a small company with three new models and they want them all to be top notch.

It never was any different with LEICA: patience for something very good and lasting a long time.

So please let's be easy on them and let them do good work. It's hard to believe, that the forum members don't have a camera to take pictures during the next weeks.

[like_no_other]

@like no other - the blog post in your sig is a clear attempt to stir the pot and draw page hits. It's a joke. I don't mean this to be offensive to you - but honestly, reread that article and position yourself against. There's more than enough there to point to the previously mentioned. I'm actually surprised people seem to regard this site so highly - with or without a background in photography - words are another art form.. one not mastered by the blog post.

 

 

 

My signature was planned to stay for a short period because the message of the article is true. I've changed the sig now.

Of course KR intends to get attention with his provocative headlines with the intention to make money with his website. Every website tries to make money. Personally I have no problem with articles that include a true point and a lot of overexaggerated nonsense that is written with a good sense of humour. At least I can smile if I read his website.

[grober]

It's hard to believe, that the forum members don't have a camera to take pictures during the next weeks.

 

Ha!

 

I do have an old film Pentax but, in fact, I sold all my Leica M-gear -- one three-year old M8 & nine lenses! -- in anticipation of the X1 shipping by Christmas as was strongly hinted by Leica USA.

 

Come on, Leica Camera, stop clowning around: ship the X1.

 

-g

[h00ligan]

My signature was planned to stay for a short period because the message of the article is true. I've changed the sig now.

Of course KR intends to get attention with his provocative headlines with the intention to make money with his website. Every website tries to make money. Personally I have no problem with articles that include a true point and a lot of overexaggerated nonsense that is written with a good sense of humour. At least I can smile if I read his website.

Plenty of websites don't seek to make money. I guess the difference is, i haven't found his photo work inspirational or any humour in the writing. Just an massively opinionated person trying to sucker people in for a buck with page clicks. I realize that opinion doesn't seem to be shared by many, which actually surprises me. Sorry for threadjacking.

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[NZDavid]

Moving along...

 

Most "Made in Germany" products are high quality, but that has not always been the case. I spotted this on the German forum, comparing the waiting time with that for another German product, the not quite so illustrious but rather infamous Trabant ("Trabi"), a truly awful car from the former East Germany. The contraption had a two-stroke, smoke-belching engine and was built out of resin. The story goes that an oil-rich Sheikh had heard how in East Germany people had to save for ten years to afford to buy the car and then had to wait 12 years from placing their order before they finally received it. Wow, thought the Sheikh, that must be a really exclusive vehicle, I must have one! When they received his order, the Trabant company in Zwickau were blown away and naturally decided they couldn't possibly keep the Sheikh waiting that long, so they took a car out of the production run and sent it him immediately. The Sheikh was delighted. "These East Germans are brilliant," said the Sheikh. "I only placed my order a week ago and already they've sent me the cardboard model!"

[LuxBob]

Moving along...

 

Most "Made in Germany" products are high quality, but that has not always been the case. I spotted this on the German forum, comparing the waiting time with that for another German product, the not quite so illustrious but rather infamous Trabant ("Trabi"), a truly awful car from the former East Germany. The contraption had a two-stroke, smoke-belching engine and was built out of resin. The story goes that an oil-rich Sheikh had heard how in East Germany people had to save for ten years to afford to buy the car and then had to wait 12 years from placing their order before they finally received it. Wow, thought the Sheikh, that must be a really exclusive vehicle, I must have one! When they received his order, the Trabant company in Zwickau were blown away and naturally decided they couldn't possibly keep the Sheikh waiting that long, so they took a car out of the production run and sent it him immediately. The Sheikh was delighted. "These East Germans are brilliant," said the Sheikh. "I only placed my order a week ago and already they've sent me the cardboard model!"

OT. The car does display these characteristics but some of them can still be seen runniing around - simple, easy to maintain mechanicals and indestructible body. In fact the material for the body is subject to a patent . It is a resin type approach but contains some banal ingredient which I can't remember - no, that's it, cardboard. I have a declared liking for these odd-ball cars and teh old Fiat 500 It woudl be great to find garage space for one or both. Mrs LuxBob though prefers more traditional German makes.