I see things differently. Pentax still exists; they simply changed owners. From the founding family, to shareholders, then Hoya, and now Ricoh. The Pentax core survived these changes, and is alive&well. There is a big difference between this, becoming just a name to be passed between companies. My point of view, maybe not absolutely technically correct, tries to emphasis this difference.
You have valid points about those "ultimate decisions", however such things are subject to modifications even with no ownership change; and Ricoh proved they won't abuse their power (unlike a certain shareholder group, back when Pentax Corporation was struggling for their independence). Regards, Alex On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 7:27 PM, Mark C <[email protected]> wrote: > Exactly. From WIkipedia (of all places): > > ^"Pentax is a brand name used by Pentax Ricoh Imaging Company for cameras, > sport optics (e.g. binoculars), etc., Hoya Corporation for its > medical-related products & services,[1] TI Asahi for its surveying > instruments,[2] and Seiko Optical Products for some of its optical > lenses.[3]" > > The Pentax Ricoh company no doubt incorporates many attributes of the > formerly independent Asahi Optical Company including patents, assets, > personnel etc. But ultimate decisions about design philosophy, future > direction, market placement, etc rest with RIcoh (for cameras). That's OK > with me and IMO better than Hoya. > > - Mark > > > On 3/5/2013 10:00 AM, David Parsons wrote: >> >> What he is saying is Pentax doesn't exist as a company. It's purely >> IP at this point. Hoya bought the Pentax IP, then sold it to Ricoh. >> There is no Pentax, it's a brand name owned by Ricoh. >> >> On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 8:06 AM, Alexandru-Cristian Sarbu >> <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 1:32 AM, Mark C <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>> On 3/4/2013 12:31 PM, John Sessoms wrote: >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Won't be the first time a company NAME lives on after the company is >>>>> dead >>>>> & buried. >>>> >>>> >>>> As in the case of .... Pentax? >>>> >>>> Mark >>> >>> FTR, there is a company called Pentax Ricoh Imaging, and it's pretty >>> much alive ;) >>> >>> -- >>> Best regards, >>> Alex Sarbu -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
