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Kaufmann has a proven record of introducing what people don't want

and completely ignoring what people have been asking for forever...

Add to it the worst marketing ideas ever. And some "luxury" items and special editions.

The only reason they are still around is M. 

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Go back 3 weeks in time, before Rumors made his prediction. Most of us were very happy with the cameras we had and confident that slowly (maybe too slowly) but surely Leica was giving us what we want. And appreciative that the Kaufmann family had deep pockets and business sense and had secured the company's future. leica can't be held responsible for our fantasies. This was just the classic Tocquevellian problem of rising expectations unmet.

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When a company does something we usually assume the accountants have calculated that it will provide the shareholders with the best returns. But what if the reason is a more human, fickle one? Maybe Kaufmann’s partner got fed up with him asking what’s the time and nagged him to get a goddamned watch. Someone should write a book on why stuff happens; we very rarely find out.

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Leica car is a no go because the future is only fully autonomous car and Leica (if any) will be fully manual.

No need to add emoticons since this thread is at a point where every post should be assumed to have rolling eyes emoticon.

Right, cars are so 20th century...a Zagato bicycle !
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Talking about Cologne... is it worth going there for the Photokina this year? I have booked the hotel as usual, but have some doubts now. They usually have some very good photo exhibitions at the Messe.

Edited by ynp
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Kaufmann has a proven record of introducing what people don't want

and completely ignoring what people have been asking for forever...

Add to it the worst marketing ideas ever. And some "luxury" items and special editions.

The only reason they are still around is M. 

Has he? That statement couldn't be further from the truth. He has, in fact, a record of taking over a failing company with products that didn't sell any more and introducing a large range of cameras, lenses and optics that sold so well that the company is healthy and expanding at present.

 

It appears to me that you equate "people" to yourself. Not so. And it is Dr. Kaufmann. No need to throw common courtesy out of the window.

 

The M is popular amongst its fans, yes, but its contribution to Leica's turnover is getting smaller by percentage, which means all the new stuff of the last decade is more and more successful.

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Can't argue with that. The M's transition from film to digital was rocky but ultimately successful, with the M9 being a milestone and the M10 on the borderline of perfection. Outside of the M, the X1 has paved the way for many of today's APSC cameras, while the Q is (still) a modern marvel. Overall, the Doctor has done a fine job.

 

I would seriously raise questions of Leica's marketing decisions, however. The 'mini M', the Sofort / Canon scandal, the garish and hideously priced special editions, and now this L watch thing are strange choices, to say the least. After teasing the L-mount, it might have been better to have led with a camera-related announcement and finish with the watches which would have been an added bonus. But this move leaves pretty much everyone a little confused and somewhat underwhelmed. 

 

Unless there is a 'one more thing' announcement...

 

Enter the Leica car...

 

 

 

 

Has he? That statement couldn't be further from the truth. He has, in fact a record of taking over a failing company with products that didn't sell any more and introducing a large range of cameras, lenses and optics that sold so well that the company is healthy and expanding at present.

 

It appears to me that you equate "people" to yourself. Not so. And it is Dr. Kaufmann. No need to throw common courtesy out of the window.

 

The M is popular amongst its fans, yes, but its contribution to Leica's turnover is getting smaller by percentage, which means all the new stuff of the last decade is more and more successful.

Edited by jonatdonuts
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what next, the Leica fountain pen?

Actually, it might sell better than the watch would ;). Quite apart from the over-hyped Internet expectations, it is worth noting that there have been occasional "Leica" watches for decades. This one is just a more expensive variant. Nothing strange for a company, especially one with a strong up-market image, to branch out into different products that may support the brand. Nor for companies to have nebulous design interaction with other companies.

 

There are Bentley watches, skis, fountain pens, etc. Porsche Design designs and markets sunglasses, kitchen knives, hard disk drives, luggage, smart phones, fountain pens, watches and more. Interestingly a Huawei phone BTW. Porsche was also involved in the design of the Summarit production line. 

A Leica watch? So what?

 

Maybe Leica should have been throwing buckets of ice-cold water over Leica Rumors after what, in retrospect, turned out to be a tongue-in-cheek remark by Dr. Kaufmann. OTOH, it would have been met with stark disbelief.

 

So time to settle down and wait for the next camera to be announced. Maybe today, maybe in a few weeks or months, maybe later. It will come -in Leica time- and will be a surprise.

 

In the meantime, we still have some rather nice stuff to take photographs with.

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20 pages of mental masturbation for what ended up being an announcement of an expensive watch. 

 

 

Well I'm delighted that no greater-than-24MP-sensor camera was just released having bought an SL in the last month  (just before that rumour surfaced). 

Depending on the potential specs of the non-existent camera I potentially may have been really pissed off....potentially.

 

:-)

Edited by MarkP
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Never forget that every overpriced Leica "prestige" product sold to people with more money than sense contributes to the bottom line, which in turn frees up resources for the R&D of real cameras. I shall be encouraging my many multi-millionaire friends to continue to buy special limited editions and watches.

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OK Dr. (?) Jaap.

Dr. LCT

:D

At Leica Forum meetings the average number of University graduates is usually around 70%, at least, in Europe  ;) Anyway, for a German (and not only Germans), omitting a title is quite insulting. No need to go that way on our Forum.

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At Leica Forum meetings the average number of University graduates is usually around 70%, at least, in Europe  ;) Anyway, for a German (and not only Germans), omitting a title is quite insulting. No need to go that way on our Forum.

You ate defending yourself in a corner here, Jaap. No need for that here on the forum.

I wasn’t aware that the qualifications you have, are accounted for at the forummeetings.

Certainly not allowed following the latest privacy rules.....at least not in Europe since May the 25th........

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At Leica Forum meetings the average number of University graduates is usually around 70%, at least, in Europe  ;) Anyway, for a German (and not only Germans), omitting a title is quite insulting. No need to go that way on our Forum.

Not quite correct. “Some people feel insulted” if you omit their titles. Like offence, insults are taken not given.

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You ate defending yourself in a corner here, Jaap. No need for that here on the forum.

I wasn’t aware that the qualifications you have, are accounted for at the forummeetings.

Certainly not allowed following the latest privacy rules.....at least not in Europe since May the 25th........

Not defending, replying. :lol:

Privacy rules do not apply to statistics, the data must be related to a specific person. ;)

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Not quite correct. “Some people feel insulted” if you omit their titles. Like offence, insults are taken not given.

You and I live in an informal society. :) Not everybody does. There is nothing wrong with a bit of courtesy.

Title etiquette is weird in some ways. In scientific papers it is customary to omit titles when quoting or responding, on the assumption that if the other party weren't qualified, he wouldn't be quoted. However, addressing the same person directly, one would be "Herr Professor Dr. Dr."ing.

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Not defending, replying. :lol:

Privacy rules do not apply to statistics, the data must be related to a specific person. ;)

Well the intention of gathering these information, storing them and use them, even for statistics, should be made public beforehand, for instance on this website. Asking for private information to be used in these statistics needs approval from the individual also....

 

And what is it with these emoticons, should I take everything you stated not serious?

Edited by AndreasAM
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A least light-hearted.

 

So, does people raising  their hand when requested  at a gathering amount  to approval or not? I would say it does, and it would not be recording individual data, as it is anonymized by the counting.

Even if I may not record that Andreas raised his hand, I may record that 59 out of 80 persons did. Which makes for the interesting implication that a unanimous vote may not be recorded if one person objects. Clearly ridiculous and thus not the intention of this law.

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