Many reports about Leica
and their products are inevitably accompanied by comments that they are too
expensive, that nobody buys Leicas and similar comments forecasting (or hoping)
their imminent demise.
Yet nothing could be
further from the truth. Leica Camera AG
just published their yearly sales figures for the fiscal year which ended in
March. They point to a 12 percent
increase in overall business, something that no other camera manufacturer can
point to, as a matter of fact, the camera industry is in a general downturn.
Leica just recently
introduced their collaboration with HUAWEI, the preeminent Chinese cell phone
manufacturer. That too was immediately
criticized as ill-advised and comments of likely failure.
An article in the
Washington Post today puts Leica and their venture with HUAWEI indirectly into
a different light. The article has the
headline “What the iPhone has done to cameras is completely insane.”
They write about the
influence smart phones have had on many aspects of our daily lives. They write:
There might, however, be no better example than the
camera, which has suffered mightily since the iPhone was introduced almost 10
years ago.
They continue to write
about the general growth of camera sales, especially digital point-and-shoot
cameras. These made photography
substantially easier than ever before. This
is until the introduction of the i-Phone phone and cell phones in general.
Since then digital cameras
for the amateur market have all but disappeared. But over the last few years, even prosumer
and professional camera have suffered.
Since 2011 total camera sales have dropped from high of over 120 million
unites to about 35 million units in 2015, and the trend is continuing.
Cameras with
interchangeable lenses initially were not influenced by this trend. The initial new interest in photography, a
result of the easier to operate digital cameras, led many people to step up to
something more sophisticated, and interchangeable lenses were a definite factor
in that.
But even that market has
begun to suffer. Interchangeable lens
sales have dropped from a high of over 30 million units in 23013 to a low of
about 22 million units in 2015.
In view of those facts,
the 12 percent increase of Leica Camera AG clearly shows that they are on the
right track, and their collaboration with HUAWEI can only help that growth to
continue. While all other major camera
manufacturers have done nothing to compete on their own with these new market
trends, Leica has shown the foresight to pursue an obviously more successful
camera model strategy.
For the Washigton Post Article go here.
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