Was the M240 release faster or slower than the M10?

[M10shooting]

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I got my M 240 about two years after the release, so I have no idea what that release was like. I'm just wondering how that one was compared to the M 10 ?

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[Peter H]

The M240 took ages to reach the first customers. 

 

The M10 has been quicker off the mark, but now that the first batch has been distributed the process feels similar to me. Many of us are on waiting lists with no idea when we'll get our camera.

 

But it's still a bit too early to know whether overall things have improved, or just for the fortunate first batch of customers. I think/guess this will prove to be a little bit better than the M240 release.

[digitalfx]

My dealer has been delivering cameras every week...they said its definatly moving faster.

[Tmuussoni]

M 240 was notoriously slow to deliver. Hasselblad X1D kinda is repeating this pattern. M10 so far has been much faster to ship out.

[thighslapper]

Leica appear to have learnt from previous supply disasters .......

 

All the last few models have appeared in reasonable numbers after the announced release date ...... in fact the M10 appears to be the only product recently that has escaped the 'teaser' initial supply ... occasionally just before the official release date followed by adequate regular numbers after a 6 week or so hiatus. 

 

The M10 does not seem to be suffering from the usual 'batch process' problem of gaps between deliveries implying that there is currently continuous production ...... presumably meaning that everything else is ticking over with fairly even demand and supply .....

[johnbuckley]

The M240 was announced in September 2012, almost exactly three years after the M9. But unlike the M9, which arrived 16 days after it was announced, I didn't receive the M240 until almost exactly four years ago next week: February 28, 2013. That was a 5+ month gap. And I know I received one of the first ones to hit the US.

 

The M10 was announced on 1/18 and I received mine the next day, in the US, where I was told the Leica Stores each got one. They may be coming in small batches, but at least they are coming! And keep this in mind: when the M8 was released in November 2006, there were no Leica Stores in the US, and I don't believe there were any in China. Today, there are Leica Stores in at least 7 US cities, multiple cities in China, and around the world. So while we get reports of them arriving in dribs and drabs, the arrivals span across a much larger dealer network (their own) plus the big camera stores.

 

It still takes a long time for, say, the SL 50 Summilux to make it from announcement to dealers, but the flagship M is getting into dealers' hands faster than four years ago. I see today that Leica Rumors is projecting the company's revenue for the last year up to €400m. It would seem that the investment by Blackstone, which enabled Dr. K to take some of his family's money out, even as they maintained control, has enabled Leica to finance new facilities for making cameras and new company stores. They are still a very small company to have this level of importance in a high technology/capital intensive segment. These days they're making excellent products and getting them in dealers' hands. This is a big, big improvement from a decade ago when, starved by Hermes and strategically off track, they really were close to the brink.