Further to my last report on the four recent official Pentax interviews, here is a missed one with the higher Pentax official at the CES. The ePhotozine interviewed the General Manager of Pentax UK, Mr. Jonathan Martin, as follows:-
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/we-interview-pentax-uk-gm-jonathan-martin-18246
Below are some important or unimportant excerpts, depending on what one would interpret or interested in (and my comments follow each):-
"When Ricoh set out to buy Pentax, they said they wanted to grow the DSLR market, and fill in the gaps where there are any."
We all heard about that, but that is in past tense! Yes, they wantED!
"The K-r has finished it's final production run, which means that no more are being made, however stock is still shipping to dealers until the end of Feb/Mar, and dealers will still have stock available for people to buy after this.
While I do not know timelines, it is inevitable that a camera company would introduce a replacement for a product that is profitable and selling well."
K-r was discontinued but there is no fixed time frame for its replacement! :-(
"2012 is going to be a very exciting year, and that news is already out there, [referring to the mirrorless camera], although we can't go into details. Also we will be looking to grow strongly in the Digital SLR market."
"To be competitive in the Digital SLR market you need a full range of cameras, for example Canon and Nikon have a range of 4 cameras from entry level to professional. I can't give any more details however as the timeframe for future products is unknown."
Still, no Pentax official has ever told anything about the rumoured new Pentax mirrorless and whilst no time frame is confirmed for the future DSLR product(s) even with the confirmed discontinuation of the K-r. So, how to make a 4 hierarchy product line like C and N do when now there is only ONE camera in the family, i.e., the K-5?! >:-o