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Anonymous
I'm actually very surprised Leica has managed to stay in business as long as it has. They've always priced themselves out of reach for most buyers and for the last thirty years have produced cameras lacking the whiz-bang electronic and technical features that are likely to appeal to the majority of buyers (not that that's a bad thing, but it certainly affects their market share). They've stayed afloat mostly because of pompous rich people who buy them because of the name and a small segment of people who really do love shooting with rangefinders and can manage to afford new Leicas.
It should come as no surprise that the company is struggling now as the gold standard for rich assholes is a top-of-the-line Canon or Nikon DSLR and companies are producing smaller, lighter, quieter, and better handling DSLRs that can approximate some of the advantages of rangefinders for a fifth of the price.
I will really be sad to see Leica go, but unless they seriously revamp their business model of the last 50 years, it's pretty much certain.
My only hope is that Voigtlander stays afloat and keeps improving the quality of their rangefinder line and introduce more digital products while keeping true to their mid-range price beginnings. They had a good product with the Epson R-D1, but it was too hard to get in the US, too expensive, lacked brand recognition, and is now outdated and overpriced on the used market.
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