by Veit on September 20, 2009
I have written (and will continue to write) about the Good Enough Revolution, including Steve Jobs being its (intentional?) master.
But the good enough revolution does not stop with consumer products – in fact, you can see it right when examining professional camera gear. Case in point: Canon.
With the advent of the Canon 7D, Canon now has two complete lines of professional gear: Top-of-the-line professional gear (1D for Action Shooters, 1Ds for Landscape/Full-Frame/Wedding shooters, f2.8 zoom lenses covering the entire range from 16 to 200 mm) and the good-enough line (7D for Action, 5D for Landscape/FF/weddings, f4.0 zooms covering 17 to 200mm). In fact, the good enough pro gear provides them with extra revenue, since not only pro’s and discerning amateurs use that gear, but also pro’s often use good-enough gear as backups to their top-of-the-line equipment. Canon clearly gets it that they need to offer two complete sets of cameras and lenses to the customers that are most profitable to them.
Contrast this with Nikon – they are sitting pretty in the camera department, mainly with the D700 and the D300s as good-enough cameras. But their glaring hole is in their lens line-up (see also bythom’s lens overview). No dedicated f4 pro glass, only variable aperture lenses. As much as I applaud Nikon for their strong camera line-up, they seem to have neglected upgrading their lens line-up and fail to offer two lines of pro zooms.
And that’s the reason why I would not buy Nikon today, if I had a chance to start all over again.
by Veit on September 11, 2009
Photoscala released an analysis on the world-wide DSLR market share gains and losses between the years 2006 and 2008.
Analyzing many sources, Photoscala's DSLR market share analysis shows Sony and Nikon as winners, Canon as the main loser.
I think there are three lessons to be learned from this analysis:
1. Brand matters
People shun smaller brands when they are under attack. A big part of Sony’s market share gain is attributable to their take-over of Minolta, thus giving DSLR buyers the confidence that their investment would be protected. As a result, people started to buy Sony again. But there might be another reason why Sony gained share:
2. In-Body Image Stabilization (IS)
Minolta was the first to release in-body IS – all the smaller guys followed. As pointed out in my analysis on the Panasonic GF1, it’s the trend of the future for entry-level DSLR, since it allows consumers, esp. the ones who trade up to their first DSLR and are used to in-body IS in compacts, to buy a wide range of non-IS lenses from multiple manufacturers. Both Canon and Nikon probably lost share to Sony in the entry level market over their lack of in-body IS. Expect at least one of the big guys to adopt in-body IS.
3. Great cameras in the mid- to pro-range
Nikon’s D3, D700 and D300 really improved low-light performance and became very well known for it, which explains why Nikon ended up in the plus and Canon lost even more market share. Canon had no such break-through in that sub-segment of the market at that time.
Who should be scared over these numbers? Mainly Canon, but also Panasonic. For someone who wants to break into the top 4 of the DSLR market, Panasonic needs to improve their market share very quickly. So far, they have not.
by Veit on September 10, 2009
Yesterday, Steve Jobs re-introduced the new Apple handheld equation:
Microphone + WiFi = iPhone Killer
With a microphone and WiFi, you have access to Google Voice in a browser, thus a potential phone. Add to that a Verizon MiFi and you have a de-facto cell phone.
That, and not Steve Jobs’ bogus answer to David Pogue on how Apple did not understand how to market an iPod Touch, is the reason we did not see a camera and video in the iPod Touch. And why the Nano does not include WiFi.
That is also why we we will not see an iPod camera, as Joe thinks we will. And why the iPad could have both WiFi and a microphone – it’s not a hand-held (or at least what a consumer understands a handheld to be).
Expect future Apple handhelds to follow this formula – Apple needs to protect its iPhone franchise
by Veit on September 9, 2009
Apple’s Music event today was interesting as much for what was said as for what was left out. But after a few hours of reflection, here’s my initial take on the impact of Apple’s announcements.
1. Apple will protect the iPhone franchise at all cost
Well, we did not get the most important announcement – the microphone in the new iPod Touch. Thus no video. But no camera at all? Unless Apple will release an out-of-cycle iPod Touch update due to the rumored manufacturing issues, the de-featuring of the new iPod Touch is a clear indication that Apple wants to protect its iPhone franchise at all cost. Apple was aware that a microphone would make it much easier for digeratis to use the iPod Touch as an “Ersatz” phone. Obviously, they were not willing to take the risk. And with no video, why incur the extra charge for a camera? Thanks, but we’d rather keep the money.
In fact, by looking at the OS 3.1 update, especially the peer-to-peer gaming feature, Apple seems to be positioning the iPod Touch more and more in the gaming space. Not surprising, but not totally understandable, either.
2. The iPad will not have a camera, either
While the iPad was neither announced (not surprisingly) nor mentioned, the continued de-featuring of the iPod Touch is a clear indication what not to expect in the iPad. For the same reasons as with the Touch, the iPad will not feature a microphone, either. No mic, no video and now we know, no camera. Frankly, I’m not sure, we would need a camera in the iPad, but we can now be sure we will not get one.
3. Developers scratching their heads
What’s this new iTunes feature allowing homes to share apps? I have not seen data indicating how many copies of an app a household buys on average, but if it is only 1.1, that is a 10% sales cut the developers just incurred. Thank you, Apple – first the approval mess and now you cost me sales as well? Even although the impact will probably be minimal, I’m sure developers are not happy about Home Sharing. But there’s some compensation for that, in the form of App Genius.
4. App Genius is genius – for Apple
Genius for Apps looks interesting, although I have not spent a lot of time with the new OS 3.1. Of course, it is Apple’s blatant attempt to get more cash from us through additional and better merchandizing. This must have developers smiling. We will see how good this will work, how much sales will increase and whether it will make up for lost sales due to home sharing. But it will boost the number of apps downloaded and also the number of apps sold – both important numbers to Apple’s Marketing machine. Not to mention additional revenue which they will gladly take.
What else do you think was really important in today’s event?
