Olympus abdicating entry level ILS market?

markintosh13 wrote:

Is there anything to be gained by fighting it out on the low end?
I doubt it.
The P&S wars are over - and everybody lost.
There will always be entry level DSLRs priced dirt cheap. There will be DSLR-like mirrorless cameras priced cheap - and when new entry level models are released, the older ones will be blown out at ridiculously cheap clearance prices.
A retailer once told me that when catering to a niche market, especially one that is shrinking, own the high end, build the cachet of your brand and service the heck out of your customers.

Motorbikes - the Europeans made the best 350/500cc bikes.  Then the Japanese made great small capacity bikes and the Europeans relinquished the bottom end of the market - no profits there for old technology.  Then the Japanese bikes got bigger capacity - soon enough they were making larger capacity bike and the European bikes just went larger capacity and more exclusive.  Then the Japanese bikes roared past right up to 1,000cc and European manufacturers receded to a few niche marques.  Time will tell if cheap entry level old technology dslr will continue to compete with new-technology mirrorless at the entry level coal face.

Think RF after the slr onslaugth.  The dslr is far from dead but it might suffer a bit if ever the dslr lost its allure as the only proper camera for respectable wannabes to use.

A cheap entry level dslr will have trouble competing in the image stakes with the sleek mirrorless of a neighbouring outfit - especially if the mirrorless looks as big as and much the same as a dslr.

Just ask those that own one.  "Real dslr" or dslr-look?