DCI:
First, I’d like to thank you for taking the time to sit down with us and share some information on Sony’s first DLSR release. We, and our readers, – do appreciate it.
I thought we could start with an introduction, with Mark describing briefly to our readers what his personal involvement with the release has been and how the project itself evolved or came to fruition?
Mark Weir:
I'm the product manager for the category. Sony has been planning to get into the Digital SLR business for some time, and obviously the transferred assets from a company like Konica Minolta were under consideration for some time, but if you are asking me about my involvement in the project, it’s primarily been as a products planner. The actual negotiations to transfer the assets from Konica Minolta to Sony were conducted on the Japan side, not the U.S. side.
DCI:
Okay, that makes sense. You mentioned that the project has been considered for some time, but how long has it actually been in the works?
Mark Weir:
Oh, the initial announcement of the agreement was in July of 2005. I would not be able to speculate on how much further in the past the negotiations took place, because I am not aware of that.
DCI:
In your opinion, what do you think will make Sony's SLR attempt successful when Konica Minolta's was not?
Mark Weir:
Well I don't know that Konica Minolta’s was not. Konica Minolta had a strong and enthusiastic following for some time. To say that they were unsuccessful, probably isn't a point of view that I would espouse. I would say that they didn't have as much share as other, rivals that did, but I wouldn’t say that they did not succeed.
DCI:
Okay, well, let me rephrase the question. Do you expect Sony to garner a larger share of the SLR market than they achieved?
Mark Weir:
It has been announced that Sony's intention is to have a share position that is higher than theirs, but I would say that the timing for that certainly isn't immediate. I think I know what you're driving at and I think that Sony can bring strengths in technological areas and strengths in marketing efforts that perhaps would not be the same as what Konica Minolta did. Obviously Sony is a company that has technology in areas which Konica Minolta did not. I think that Sony as a company, from a sales and marketing standpoint, has assets which Konica Minolta did not. I think that the results will be soon seen. Keep in mind that there are assets that Konica Minolta had that Sony does not and hence the nature of a partnership. So I think to specifically answer your question--how does Sony expect to be more successful?-- I think it's the combination of those assets that really represents a capability that goes beyond what any one of those companies could have done.
DCI:
Okay, that makes sense. Do you expect all future models in the line to target the same user demographic as the A100, or at least to remain priced around a thousand dollars?
Mark Weir:
I think that we are building our first model primarily aimed at a consumer. You know, I doubt that professional photographers will find the camera that we introduce in July a model that would match the capabilities or match the requirements that they might have of a professional camera. It’s not our intention with our first model to do that.
DCI:
Do you foresee Sony ever entering the professional space?
Mark Weir:
We are not allowed to comment upon our future intentions. But our lens lineup is quite aggressive and competent and one could read into what our lens line-up can accomplish. But I would say that there’s a lot of, how should I put it, segmentation of the customer market that is not necessarily accurate all of the time. I find that there are plenty of advanced amateurs that are using mainstream SLRs and I think that there are plenty of entry or novice users who are using advanced or even in some cases higher professional SLRs. I think that the people who are learning what an aperture and shutter speed are often are carrying six or seven thousand dollars around their necks.
DCI:
Hmm, Yeah.
Mark Weir:
And that’s not unusual. There is a lot of segmentation going on that makes logical sense when you think about it, but it isn’t always the case. There are plenty of well-heeled amateurs who are buying very expensive cameras and it’s not as cut and dry as it might seem. Our camera, we feel, will provide everything that a mainstream user would want and we also believe that it will have characteristics that will be greatly valued by those who go well beyond mainstream users. I mean, there are things that it does that cameras in its class simply don’t do and there are things that it does that go beyond that which cameras that are even beyond its class can do.
DCI:
Just out of curiosity, when you say class, do you personally consider that to be more a function of price or of performance capability and styling?
Mark Weir:
Well, keep in mind that the digital SLR space doesn’t have nearly as many models as some others and, as a result, I think the classification that most in the industry utilize is actually quite common and I think that it is one that is initially based on price. But when you stratify by price, you find that it quickly describes each of the sub-categories pretty accurately; most people that I talk to stratify at about a thousand dollars and down and then from a thousand to three thousand and then three thousand and up. To a certain extent, this characterizes cameras based on what customers they appeal to. It also characterizes them, at least for now, based on their technical capabilities. And probably the criteria that matches them the most is build quality.
