>
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 23:07:46 -0500
>From: Wayne S <om4t@xxxxxxxx>
>Subject: [OM] Re: Oly Woes
><SINIP>
>Oly does a good job with the compacts. But who would want to jump
>into a whole new SLR system, not compatible with anyone else, not
>full frame, and not of the performance level of other camera systems?
>I gave Oly a chance and bought an E-1, C5050, C5060, 14-54, 50-200
>and now they finally are coming out with some other decent lenses,
>but no good working distance macro, no IS, mediocre auto
>focus, poorer noise, etc, etc. and they wonder why the world is not
>flocking in droves. I think they let the compact camera mentality
>influence the professional SLR design too much and just did not
>come out with the professional level camera system winner they
>could have. I'm just one more data point in the statistics that
>has moved on. Oly just does not have what I need, and I tried. Their
>only hope is competing as a lower cost system, which is what the
>4/3's was suppose to give them:
><SNIP>
Posted by Moose:
>
>Most of the other makes have fairly clearly differentiated lines. The
>alpha part of the name tells something about general size/function and
>the numbers go up with succeeding models.
>
>The other thing I've said before is that the Oly compact models are
>really undistinguished in features and performance. The only semi-unique
>thing they have is the splash proof models. Otherwise, everything is
>just middle of the pack. And there is a big market out there for really
>small cameras with decent performance, and Oly just doesn't do that,
>heaven knows why.
<SNIP>
>
>That means either a very much smaller company or an enormous increase in
>DSLR sales. What's the saturation point for DSLR sales where growth
>rates drop to replacement level? And when will it be reached? These are
>crucial questions for anyone aiming to vastly increase their sales and
>share and I bet nobody doing the "planning that came up with those
>numbers even looked at that. It's so easy to assume that what goes up
>will always go up.
>
>Don't get me wrong, I wish Oly well, and wish they would make cameras
>for me, too. It's a rough world out there in commodity manufacturing and
>Oly hasn't done themselves many favors lately.
>
>Moose, fondling an OM-4
Interesting discussion by Wayne and Moose.
They both elucidate important points. It seems to me that Oly has a
major problem that hasn't been discussed....no "VOC"....Voice of the
Customer. The concept of Voice of the Customer is well known by
companies that have healthy business practices and continually
innovate and at the same time, delight their customers.
By way of example, the company I work had customers beating a path to
our door in the late 90's....anything we built, the customers would
come. Our company apparently, could do no wrong. In the process
however, we got a reputation for being incredibly arrogant....we
didn't listen to our customers as we had customers lining up to buy
our products, That all changed with the dawn of the millenium.....our
year on year 20% EBIT growth dropped almost four fold to about 5%; we
had a number of competitors nipping at our heels, small innovative
companies stealing market share, and a stock price that for the
better part of four years was flatter than an Iowa prairie. We didn't
have anything resembling a process to capture VOC because we didn't
have to. We put out products that were conceived by product managers
who made up requirements and specifications, products that didn't
sell, or those that did, started having major problems with quality,
waste in the form of poor processes, rework, and scrap.all of which
cost us hundreds of millons of dollars.
By contrast, consider C*n*n. I was flipping through the latest issue
of Digital Photo Pro, and there is a striking ad with the portrait of
a man taken by famous portrait photographer Walter Iooss. The only
print on the page reads "Listen Closely". Turning the page shows a
studio shot of the new 5D and 1D MkII N. On the next page, the text
reads: "That's how you make great cameras" The body copy goes on to
read "For over 70 years, C*n*n has listened to the world's best
photographers-like Walter Iooss, who shot the portrait featured here
using C*n*n equipment-and responded to their needs. The latest
results of C*n*n innovation are the EOS 1D MkII N and the EOS 5D.
Two state of the art cameras with improvements and features that
place them among the most sophisiticated, innovate, yet easy-to-use
cameras ever designed. Rounding out the EOS lineup that already
includes the 1DsMkII, 20D, Digital Rebel XT and a full range of C*n*n
EF lenses, these cameras add a wealth of new choices for professional
photographers." The last sentence is perhaps the most telling: "And
we truly couldn't have done it without you"
The thing that is interesting to me about this ad is that is
specifically about VOC. It's clear from using their products,
carefully looking at their registration information, and ads like
this that Canon uses a very clear and well-implemented VOC process to
drive innovation, design, and execution of products that not only
typically define state of the art, but also, and just as imporantly,
delight their customers. Their D-SLR products are very clearly
defined with specific features sets and performance that very clearly
meets the needs of their customers at the consumer, prosumer and
professional level. They use the profits from the premium prices they
charge AND receive for their cutting edge professional products, and
use that to drive production of lower specification products that
drive market share and overall revenue. Their products meet the needs
of their customers at their targeted price points extremely well,
which in turn conributes to the market share and leadership position
they have.
The problems Oly has, and has had for a long time now, is that they
don't listen to their customers very well at all. If they did, they
still wouldn't be producing products with poor noise performance, AF,
lack of IS, Their lenses may be superb, but they are markedly more
expensive than similar lenses from their competitors. A C*n*n 300/2.8
L costs $3995, not *$7,000, AND has IS to boot! What good are
superior lenses if the camera performance is mediocre compared to
it's competition with respect to AF, noise or resolution? What good
is a large line of P&S digitals if you can't pick one from the other,
and don't have "delighters" (according to the Kano model) that
separate your product from the rest of the pack?
No, it's clear to me that OLy has no meaningful VOC...if they did,
they wouldn't keep putting out mildly evolutionary products that
still don't address the complaints of thier customers.
-Stephen.
--
2001 CBR600F4i - Fantastic!
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