Because Nintendo is about on the same level of failure as Panasonic. They only have one product to manufacture (not counting accessories) and that makes it even worse.
GH1 Shipping Today! According to Panasonic Sales Rep
- Thread starter Coco Bermudez
- Start date
Because Nintendo is about on the same level of failure as Panasonic. They only have one product to manufacture (not counting accessories) and that makes it even worse.
Park Edwards
Veteran
haha. are you serious? stop while you're ahead.
DChang
Well-known member
And just how do you measure demand on a product which is graphically inferior to competing systems? A product geared towards kids under 13. They never would have imagined that the senior citizens would pick it up. I doubt they knew retirement homes would be buying them.
I wouldn't be surprised if Panasonic lowered projections in this economic climate and are now trying to fix things. Don't forget there was a decent number of layoffs announced at Panasonic earlier this year. This was obviously a surprise to them.
I can't believe there is any room left for rational debate on this issue. Take a look at nowinstock.com. Panasonic currently is offering three well-reviewed cameras (GH1, LX3, ZS3) AND THEY ARE ALL UNAVAILABLE AT MAJOR RETAILERS!!!! And have been for months. The only possible way to describe this situation is a complete failure of Panasonic marketing and distribution. As the Greeks say, "The fish rots from the head," and it is high time for heads to roll at Panasonic.
That MIGHT be understandable for an initial release, but we're talking about 2-3 years later. You don't think it's reasonable to expect them to manufacture enough supply to meet demand by then?
Still, they should have done more market analysis and research groups during development. If they had, they would have found out the demand would be as high as it was.
Based on what I've read, it seems pretty apparent that Nintendo deliberately chose to limit production in an (apparently successful) effort to promote scarcity and artificially increase demand They also placed an emphasis on providing inventory to markets with stronger currency (ie, not the US).
Is this the marketing strategy that Panasonic is emulating?
admactanium
Well-known member
I doubt they're trying to create artificial scarcity. I don't think it benefits them much in this category as opposed to game consoles. I think they probably just hit a patch where they've developed a number of very good cameras at the same time and didn't expect so much demand. I don't think the LX2, TZ5 and G1 were as hard to buy at their successors. They might simply been cursed with good fortunate all at once. The multi-cam reviews on DPReview for all the different categories of cameras below DSLR before Christmas last year all ended with the Panasonic camera of that category outright winning or being tied or near the top of every test. I don't think any company could have planned that.
Electronics aren't something that are as easy to just ramp up in production. They produce their own sensors so they probably have a maximum production that they've hit and they're just running at max capacity. In order to build more of them they'd likely have to build another fab at a massive cost.
Electronics aren't something that are as easy to just ramp up in production. They produce their own sensors so they probably have a maximum production that they've hit and they're just running at max capacity. In order to build more of them they'd likely have to build another fab at a massive cost.
I'm pretty sure it's the lenses that are the tough part of ramping up production. But that raises the question why they couldn't just transfer inventory from one location (Japan) to another (North America). Whatever the bottleneck is, they shoud be able to produce for any market from the same production line. I think the only difference between markets is firmware and some power cords.
Ben_B
Veteran
No wait I've totally got this figured out!
Awhile back Panasonic employees were told by the company that they had to spend at least like...well, $1500 on Panasonic products due to the economy!
So the GH1 shortage is simply so a ton of Panasonic employees can say they spent that money, without ever getting charged because the product is completely out of stock (and will remain that way as they keep shipping to retailers!)
Ok no seriously though, in my book they figured $1500 in rough economy was going to get them nowhere for a camera that in terms of stills isn't as up to snuff as it could be (still excellent though.) What they failed to realize is that an AVCHD HDD Sony Handcam is $900, and prosumer video cameras are $3500 (HMC-150) - $10,000....and they were, unintentionally, making the most feature packed video camera at a price-point that LOW, rather than a slightly below par pseudo-DSLR at a price point several hundred dollars higher than the competition (Nikon D40-D5000, Canon Rebel Xi-T1i.) Whoops! Market research fail!
They unintentionally wandered into another, less populated tier...namely us, rather than consumers..but who would gobble these things up. Their assesment of the consumer market was probably right, hence their poor reviews at Gizmodo and CCI, but excellent reviews at like DPPreview, etc...
Awhile back Panasonic employees were told by the company that they had to spend at least like...well, $1500 on Panasonic products due to the economy!
So the GH1 shortage is simply so a ton of Panasonic employees can say they spent that money, without ever getting charged because the product is completely out of stock (and will remain that way as they keep shipping to retailers!)
Ok no seriously though, in my book they figured $1500 in rough economy was going to get them nowhere for a camera that in terms of stills isn't as up to snuff as it could be (still excellent though.) What they failed to realize is that an AVCHD HDD Sony Handcam is $900, and prosumer video cameras are $3500 (HMC-150) - $10,000....and they were, unintentionally, making the most feature packed video camera at a price-point that LOW, rather than a slightly below par pseudo-DSLR at a price point several hundred dollars higher than the competition (Nikon D40-D5000, Canon Rebel Xi-T1i.) Whoops! Market research fail!
They unintentionally wandered into another, less populated tier...namely us, rather than consumers..but who would gobble these things up. Their assesment of the consumer market was probably right, hence their poor reviews at Gizmodo and CCI, but excellent reviews at like DPPreview, etc...
Well, there are some consumers buying GH1s. I am a semi-professional still photographer that wants to learn more about video. My previous camera was a 5 MG-pixel super-zoom from about four years ago. The GH1 simply put all the things I wanted into one camera. I'm sure I'll eventually appreciate the total control of shutter and appature and the face-recognition in video mode. But I come from a 4x5 background. This camera hits a lot of buttons. You indie video folks like the inexpensive video control. The GH1 is a smaller interchangable lens camera. So some people that might have bought a Canon-Nikon-Sony SLR may now want one. It takes just about any lens; I'm trying it with my old Leica-CL glass. It just fits a lot of needs in a lot of markets.
And this is the first semi-pro product from Panasonic's consumer division. They are learning as they go. They had some lead time from watching what happened in Japan. But notice that you can go into a store and find a Japanese model today. Did they over produce for the Japanese market? They also had the G1 to learn from. But it was a product that had a widely recognized flaw, no video. Not just that it was missing total control HD video. It was missing even the simple video that just about every camera had. The sinking economy was maybe heading into the second depresion when they were making their production plans. They didn't want a lot of excess inventory in the pipeline. And they didn't and don't know what Canon-Nikon-Sony are up to.
But I'm sure they didn't want what happened to have happened. They have a lot of badwill out there. That will be tough to fix. They don't have anything near the penetration in the retail market that the competition has. A lot of the badwill has been with the retailers. Selling through Panasonic Direct first has soured the retail chain for sure. And during this period they lost their biggest local reatil outlet, Circuit City. I don't think the GH2 will be announced until PMA next year, if then. But the buzz about a new version may begin to cannibalize sales much sooner than that. And then there are those competitors.
I think if Panasonic is serious about this semi-pro market they will need to buy their way back in to counteract the badwill. I predict the GH1 will be widely available in North America by fall. You will be able to walk into a high end store and buy one off the shelf or get it tomorrow from Amazon. Hopefully there will also be some announced changes to their release policies. Public information about how they will allocate units would be very nice. When an order is placed at Panasonic Direct the customer will be issued a number and they should stick to the priority for delivery. But just sharing information with the public is probably the most important thing they can do. As far as I know the last public thing Panasonic USA has said about availability is that the GH1 will be available in the U.S. in early June. Anyone in the U.S. believe that? But anyone can make a mistake. But not correcting it with public updates is far worse.
And this is the first semi-pro product from Panasonic's consumer division. They are learning as they go. They had some lead time from watching what happened in Japan. But notice that you can go into a store and find a Japanese model today. Did they over produce for the Japanese market? They also had the G1 to learn from. But it was a product that had a widely recognized flaw, no video. Not just that it was missing total control HD video. It was missing even the simple video that just about every camera had. The sinking economy was maybe heading into the second depresion when they were making their production plans. They didn't want a lot of excess inventory in the pipeline. And they didn't and don't know what Canon-Nikon-Sony are up to.
But I'm sure they didn't want what happened to have happened. They have a lot of badwill out there. That will be tough to fix. They don't have anything near the penetration in the retail market that the competition has. A lot of the badwill has been with the retailers. Selling through Panasonic Direct first has soured the retail chain for sure. And during this period they lost their biggest local reatil outlet, Circuit City. I don't think the GH2 will be announced until PMA next year, if then. But the buzz about a new version may begin to cannibalize sales much sooner than that. And then there are those competitors.
I think if Panasonic is serious about this semi-pro market they will need to buy their way back in to counteract the badwill. I predict the GH1 will be widely available in North America by fall. You will be able to walk into a high end store and buy one off the shelf or get it tomorrow from Amazon. Hopefully there will also be some announced changes to their release policies. Public information about how they will allocate units would be very nice. When an order is placed at Panasonic Direct the customer will be issued a number and they should stick to the priority for delivery. But just sharing information with the public is probably the most important thing they can do. As far as I know the last public thing Panasonic USA has said about availability is that the GH1 will be available in the U.S. in early June. Anyone in the U.S. believe that? But anyone can make a mistake. But not correcting it with public updates is far worse.
camera received today. much earlier than thursday that i was told.
first impression: wow it is small! very light and seems nicely built. good material and nice to hold. really really really nice LCD swivel, so big too.
this is gonna be fun
edit: this is from a june 5th panny direct order. after once being told it had shipped out before a couple weeks ago? finally received it today on the "real" ship out
first impression: wow it is small! very light and seems nicely built. good material and nice to hold. really really really nice LCD swivel, so big too.
this is gonna be fun
edit: this is from a june 5th panny direct order. after once being told it had shipped out before a couple weeks ago? finally received it today on the "real" ship out
Last edited:
Final Design Studios
Veteran
camera received today. much earlier than thursday that i was told.
first impression: wow it is small! very light and seems nicely built. good material and nice to hold. really really really nice LCD swivel, so big too.
this is gonna be fun
edit: this is from a june 5th panny direct order. after once being told it had shipped out before a couple weeks ago? finally received it today on the "real" ship out
Just to clarify, were you Shopatroned?
PappasArts
Veteran
camera received today. much earlier than thursday that i was told.
first impression: wow it is small! very light and seems nicely built. good material and nice to hold. really really really nice LCD swivel, so big too.
this is gonna be fun
edit: this is from a june 5th panny direct order. after once being told it had shipped out before a couple weeks ago? finally received it today on the "real" ship out
Congrats........ At least someone is getting their PD order!
.
Ben_B
Veteran
GRATS!!!!!!
I didn't think it was really small when I got it because I had been sort of mentally preparing myself. However, when I first unwrapped it from the foam paper or whatever it was in I was like...did I really just pick up the camera...it is tiny. But I got used to it pretty quick. It's really beautiful. I haven't noticed any build quality problems on anything...feels solid to me, and the industrial design seems much nicer than Canon or Nikon's plain-jane DSLRs...you know, like the 5d mK II.
I didn't think it was really small when I got it because I had been sort of mentally preparing myself. However, when I first unwrapped it from the foam paper or whatever it was in I was like...did I really just pick up the camera...it is tiny. But I got used to it pretty quick. It's really beautiful. I haven't noticed any build quality problems on anything...feels solid to me, and the industrial design seems much nicer than Canon or Nikon's plain-jane DSLRs...you know, like the 5d mK II.
commanderspike
Carbonite Member
They made a mistake. The faaacked up!
You can hardly blame them for reducing factory capacity and demand forecasts in this economy though.
At least their strategy means that each unit is not undersold. They must be raking it in.
was this sh**atroned? Did you ever get any tracking info?