Web Analytics RiceHigh's Pentax Blog: Pentax Still Comes Last in 2006 DSLR Global Shipment Share

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Pentax Still Comes Last in 2006 DSLR Global Shipment Share

Here comes the latest Reuters news for the numbers of shipments for Digicams and DSLRs in 2006, with figures of 2005 for comparison, too.

The key figures for DSLR shipments in 2006 are quoted as below:-
Canon 46.7%
Nikon 33%
Sony 6.2%
Olympus 5.9%
Pentax 5.4%

More unfortunately, for the DC shipments, Pentax's name cannot be seen in the list of major players.

Again, as in 2005, Pentax still comes last in 2006. It is of no surprise at all as for the first half year of 2006, I bet there was virtually no market share at all for Pentax DSLRs, with their "persistent" *ist Dx models. In fact, Pentax DSLR's sales could only see the light with the K100D, which was launched suddenly in July 06. But again, the K100D has been fighting for so long until the K10D arrived in late November, just because the K10 was delayed in shipment, as most "new" Pentax DSLRs did.

So, from another point of view, Pentax has done so well with their K100D and K10D, already, which was indeed quite a miracle for keeping up the sales figures with just half a year time, and mostly with the K100D, for most of the time. Otherwise, I'm sure that probably we cannot see Pentax as listed in the Reuters report anymore, as their share would have been more than neglectible so that their name would not appear. Here is some evidence showing that the K10D and K100D were once selling well in the Japan home market during their honeymoon periods, which reinforces my above suggestion.

But again, with the aging and outdating of the K100D and K10D, which are having much room for improvement indeed, plus, the limited supply of the Pentax lenses, plus, the down trend in image quality and performance of their glass IMHO, I'm afraid the same will happen again in 2007, unless they do launch and market new DSLRs to replace the two existing K models shortly. There is still hope, though. But at this moment, it is still very silent and there has not been any news from Pentax at all - but, no news is bad news this time.

Nevertheless, there are yet some signs for new Pentax DSLR replacement models *might* come, as recently there has been an obvious price cut campaign by Pentax globally, as we can see. For example, B&H has reduced the price for K10D recently and there have been very large cuts in the prices of the K10D and K100D in Hong Kong, for nearly 20% and more than 10%, respectively. So, if you are (still) really interested in a Pentax DSLR body, I think it would be wise to wait for a moment to see what will happen in the near future. I bet if Pentax is once again not acting fast, 2007 will be the turning point for them to be quitted from the game!

10 comments:

  1. Anonymous4/4/07 01:57

    i don't see the point to be so rude about Pentax, they have 5% its still more than Apple have with the Mac and they'ne not thinking about quiting the market ! lol

    Of course it takes time to get bigger, its not only a question of having a new DSLR etc.

    You don't even talk about Hoya, or the 645D, thats not serious

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  2. "so rude"? What's your point? I'm talking about facts..

    As for Hoya, I had already reported the case in my Blog shortly when Hoya swallowed Pentax. But, what's the point, again?

    As for 645D, I must say it has been a long-time joke as this paperware (or maybe even vapourware) has been along with us for several years, already!

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  3. Anonymous4/4/07 13:32

    Uh... the aging K10 ? Well, it's about what ... 5 months old ?

    ReplyDelete
  4. > Anonymous said...
    > Uh... the aging K10 ? Well, it's about what ... 5 months old ?

    Well, I think I've also mentioned "outdating", haven't I?

    With the various problems and shortcomings found with the K10D, I do believe the K10D is indeed due for replacement by an improvement version, already.

    Also, we should look at the systems used in the camera, e.g., the AF system and the metering system and etc. The multi-segment metering system of the K10D, which was first developed for and used in the film *ist, is actually the crudest one, which is with least intelligence and rather inaccurate, amongst the competition. Enough said.

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  5. Anonymous5/4/07 03:01

    Distorted! That is what can be added to your comment.

    Engel Zweige

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  6. ~5% of market share for Pentax is OK for me (of course, more would be better) as long as Pentax lives and produces new (and some existing) lenses and DSLR bodies.

    And Hoya is posible guaranty, at least for lenses part - I hope so. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. To all the complainers: read the Why this Blog? page. This site is meant to focus on the negative. That doesn't mean there isn't a positive side that balances the posts -- that's basically taken for granted. There's nothing at all wrong with being honest about shortcomings and asking for more. That's part of a fair evaluation.

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  8. Anonymous6/4/07 07:28

    Are SAMGUNG's shipments included in these numbers? If not it could actually push Pentax above Olympus.
    Afterall they are made by Pentax. Also "pieces shipped" is not a perfect reflection of "pieces sold to consumers" Can inflate the true success of a product.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous6/4/07 17:46

    With Hoya now Pentax-Hoya is bigger than Nikon so yes i don't think it's serious to make an article about market share 2006 and future, and talk about Pentax leaving the market without even mentioning it. Your post are sometimes interesting but its very often ridiculously negative to take it seriously (and specialy your post about the merging so if i were you i would not mention it anymore).

    Pentax is working very hard ond building a serious lens collection, new cameras are on the go, the K10 is increbly good for the price and selling pretty well (look at how its difficult its now to get some lens for it, or the price of pentax mount lens on ebay !), so whats wong about Pentax right now ?

    Some things can of course be ameliorated, but if you want your critics to be taken seriously by Pentax you must write fair articles and stop moaning.

    The fact is that Leica some serious problems with the M8, and for the price THAT is ridiculous, but it seems everyone thinks its normal. Or Sony that design their first SLR then seems to stop everything in the middle. And people compaign about the K10 beeing old… so what about the Canon 30D ??

    Let's not be unfair with Pentax, it doesn't help to fix anything.

    In terms of market share, i would say Pentax have normal/good results with huge opportunity to grow in the coming years (next 3 years). For that they need to make more units available (lens and cameras), to finish building a nice collection of modern lens, continue to design good camera as the K10 (k100 + k10 update are welcome, and a new K1d would be great), and finaly make the 645D available (tat seems possible actually). And make some good marketing efforts too.

    I think Pentax position is similar to Apple 5/3 years ago : the produce were good, but they had to make marketing efforts, and to produce more units, and it takes times before people change their mind about your brand and start thinking about buying Pentax (again). I think what Pentax needs more is time : they need to be constant and they need to be better than others because it seems brands like Canon or Leica have so much a strong brand that people don't judge their products on technical basis but more on feelings. thats good marketing… !
    -
    nlx

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  10. Anonymous6/1/08 19:44

    Remember that PENTAX is a "little" company...having a market share 5/6 of the market share of SONY is absolutely not that bad, since SONY is 20 times bigger than PENTAX...ore more!

    Seeing in this way the real competitor is Olympus, which btw it's only 0,5% so far.

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