Another digital casualty

[tim atherton]

Here's a rough paraphrase (not babelfish - by a Swedish speaker):

"60 more people are being laid off and the classical Hasselblad is being
phased out

The new danish management is cutting back activities in
Gothenburg significantly. It's the new strategy after merging Imacon and
Hasselblad.

30 white-collar and 30 production line people go. Management and
administration is now run from Kopenhagen.

Production of camera parts is out-sourced.

These 60 are over and above the 175 from earlier this year.

In the big new house that was built there will be about 70 left. Product
development (delicate mechanics) and assembly. Most assembly in the future
will require less people since Hasselblad is concentrating on wholly
digital cameras.

The digital part of production is taken care of in Copenhagen. All
electronic components are out sourced to Asia.

According to the new stategy plan the film models of Hasselblad will be
phased out (cf their FAQ my comment). The dramatic collapse of this market
has been accentuated the last few months. Hasselblad is losing money on
every camera sold.

Therefore management is taking action to lower sales. The rebates, up to
20% at the moment, will cease. The price will go up in order to compensate
for the exchange rate losses on the North American market

All taken together this means the time is out for the classic Hasselblad
model.

After merging with Imacon a digital camera has been produced in record
time (Imacon + H1).

The camera is sold for 165.000 SEK (divide by 7.36 to get USD) which is
half as much as the H1 with a separate digital back.

Hasselblad is looking for a profitable position in the segment for digital
MF.

The first version of H1D has 22 million px. The product is compared to the
another for professional users, the Canon EOS 1Ds that has 16,7 mp, but
costs half as much (the Canon).

Hasselblad is entering a whole new product cycle. Up until the recent H1
Hasselblad had essential been making and selling the same camera system
since the 60's. The product line of digital models will have to be renewed
as often as every few months."

Word from Sweden is that all film models are on the chopping block - some will just be phased out quiker than others with a few model bases becoming a part of the digital system

[Mike Troxell]

"Hasselblad is evolving, change is good......"

I believe the full quote is " Change is good, you go first...."

[Enrico]

Very well said Mike...

[martin_4668]

My contact at Hasselblad USA has asked the factory for clarification of the

news release. So before you leap to any conclusions you might wantto rein

in your horse.

--Ellis Vener

I am working in a shop with a vast stock and clients of both Hasselblad and Imacon. We are stocking the complete line. Our shop is less than 5km from the Imacon factory and office here in Copenhagen.

I am not reading press releases, I am talking to the production and sales people over a beer every now and then....I am not jumping to cinclusions.

To mike....well said, very "market-like" Our sales of V system has declined very much, but they move once in a while, the H system..well, the production cant keep up the demand.

[John Kasaian]

I guess this means that the next astronauts to moon walk might be packing Speed Graphics;-)

[Lars Åke Vinberg]

This thread seems to have gotten of on the wrong foot by posters who do not quite understand Swedish.

The fact is, Hasselblad is outsourcing production to cut cost, just like Leica and others have done for decades. Now, this is a newspaper article, not a press release - the journalist speculates that this is the death of film cameras at Hasselblad. I respectfully disagree.

[george jiri loun]

Sorry Lars, but I respectfully disagree with your words. Just a few citations from the article: "Hasseblad nu satsar allt pa heldigitala kameror" - Hasseblad now puts all the effort in to the entirely digital cameras". "I planen ingar att fasa ut de modeller som tillverkas för vanlig film" - "it is planned to phase out those models that are produced for normal film". "Sammantaget innebar det att den klassiska Hasselbladerens tid i praktiken ar ute" - All in all it means that the time for the classical Hasselblad cameras is over".

It's surely sad but yet another Swedish ikon is gone...

[tim atherton]

"It's surely sad but yet another Swedish ikon is gone..."

Dang - when did they get rid of Elin Nordegren and Saab...?

[Frank Petronio]

The latest Saab is based on a Subaru frame and guts, so there.

[tim atherton]

Oh well - I guess there's still ABBA, even if they are on 3/4