A few of the interesting excerpts:
"JC:There's a huge demand for that camera (K-5), where it's kind of exceeded our expectations to the point that there are backorders. I mean, it's a good and bad situation to have.
DE: Speaking of high-end, let me switch to the 645D. We had one of those in the lab recently, and were frankly just blown away by the performance... I think it surprised a lot of people, certainly us included. When we were shooting with the 645D, we felt it really opened up a whole new world of appreciation for what can be done with equipment at that level. We've never seen remotely that kind of detail in our test targets, so it really made a believer out of us. Given the fun that we had with it -- we all found it very engaging as a camera
DE: Pentax Japan has suggested that it's working on tethering software for the 645D, for studio usage. Can you say anything about when this might be available, and also whether that functionality could be extended to other models in your DSLR line-up, like the K-5?
Carlson: They really haven't communicated with us on availability or what they're working on. We've communicated with them that it's necessary, because there is demand for it. We're also looking at third parties that we could work with to get something in place. We recognize that it is very important, and we've got a hole there right now. Pentax is a smaller company, and our resources are pretty limited, so it's not a front-burner item, but it's at least on the back-burner... Pentax has always been an imaging company, so it's always been about the image, and the best image.
DE: The past couple years have been pretty tough ones on the U.S. economy, but things seem to be coming back a bit now. How did holiday sales look for Pentax, and what are you looking for as we head into 2011?
Carlson: What we've seen is that 2010 actually exceeded the forecasts, from some of the market resources out there. So that was good, especially with the interchangeable lens cameras. When we looked at our results for the calendar year, it blew away both the forecasts and the actuals based on NPD data, where compacts were up -- I would say -- around 20% in units and dollars; and for SLRs, we were up 30-40%. So, 2010 was definitely good for us. We have the same forecast for next year. It's the same kind of situation with compacts where it's a contracting market because of price erosion, and increase in the SLRs. So looking at that, we really think we'll do well...
DE: Your projections are that the economy's coming back, and 2011's going to be strong.
Carlson: Yeah."
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--
“At any given moment, there is a sort of all pervading orthodoxy, a general tacit
agreement not to discuss large and uncomfortable facts… Anyone who
challenges the prevailing orthodoxy finds himself silenced with surprising
effectiveness.” - George Orwell
