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galenapass wrote:
think it's very simple. To use an analogy to something I am familiar with, most big drug companies (Pfizer, Merck etc...) want to develop drugs that sell in the billions. Therefore, orphan drug targets (diseases that affect a smaller portion of the population) are not as big a concern. That does not mean they don't work on these targets, but realistically 100-300 million in sales per year is not going to keep a large company going without shutting down research sites, and laying off personnel. As Canon starts to lose revenue, from the point and shoot market, they are looking to replace that revenue with something that sells with big numbers. A 50MP camera is akin to an orphan drug, it just will not have the volume of sales that Canon will need so why waste valuable resources on something where little is to gain?
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Not sure that analogy works so well. When drug companies look to develop new drugs, it’s not so much about population, but more about the ability of the target population of the drug to be able to pay for it. There are a lot of diseases that afflict a larger number of people, but drugs are not pursued for those because the affected populations reside in third world countries and those people can’t afford to pay for the drugs.
In the camera industry, there is always going to be a demand for high end equipment, and there is always going to be a portion of the market willing to pay for it, regardless of what is happening at low end does. Such equipment always is associated with smaller volume of sales, and that’s why the price of that equipment is higher. (This isn’t exactly a new practice, industries have followed the low volume/high price model for years.) So a high megapixel camera certainly will not be an orphan…there will be a lot of people around to buy it. But Canon will wait until it has maximized the life cycle of its previous generation first.
Moreover, companies in technologically oriented industries don’t stay in business unless they pursue development of new products. Something tells me Canon isn’t going to stop R&D on DSLRs just because point-and-shoot sales are dropping
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