Olympus – love you long time.

The new PEN-IS

 

 

Ah, shit. The Olympus EP-2 is out and I have a truckload of the EP-1s to still sell with no sign of a price drop from Oly. Hmmm, the curious pleasures of retail. Anyhow, the EP-2 is a good response to Panasonic’s GF1 and if it is better than the Pen 1 (now known as the PEN-IS) then it will be an awesome bit of kit. This is Oly at it’s best. The results I’ve seen from the first one have been fantastic, especially the movie mode. As much as Olympus can be frustrating, they offer products and photography that’s slightly off-centre and I really like that. I also like the fact that the image quality is now either competitive or surpassing their competitors. I also like that it sets me apart from Canon users who are really like sheep, buying their cameras with no independent opinion or research.

“I want a Canon 450D”

“Why?”

“I’ve got a friend who’s uncle is a professional and he uses a Canon so I want one.”

“So you want a professional SLR?”

“No. I only want to spend $1000″

“You are an idiot”

That’s how it goes, day in day out. That’s what makes up Canon’s large market share; sheep. Most Olympus users I know have used them right back to OM days and they are good to talk to even if they are rare. The ones I convert to Olympus are always pleasantly surprised by how much they like their new camera and how well it shoots. They even enjoy shoving it in the faces of their Canon wielding ovine friends.

Don’t get me wrong on this, I don’t hate Canon. I take back my initial misgivings about the 7D. From all accounts, and a source I totally trust, it is a weapon of a camera. But it’s friggin’ expensive and out of reach of the average punter. Even the consumer cameras have good dynamic range but when I spend $1500 on anything I don’t want it made out of an old Airfix kit. Olympus are much better built with far superior lenses at the consumer level. I don’t need to do a full sales pitch here, it’s just that I’ve been seriously reviewing some of my brand loyalties. So far all good.

Windows 7 and a quantum shift in thinking

October 22nd 2009. The release date of Windows 7 and I’m pretty impressed. Generally, when we put new display models up on the shelves we do so without giving the machine a second thought. Just another piece of junk computer. Lately, though, everything we put out attracts the rest of the sales staff because right now every damn thing is pretty awesome. The Aussie dollar is powerful again and everything is cheap. With Vista slowly waving goodbye, an influx of cheap and very powerful machines the PC world is looking up. However…

On the same October day, our store was swiftly flooded with a tsunami of new model Apple iMacs and a 20% reduction in price across the board. Apple have countered the Windows 7 assault with a counter-offensive of their own in a technological Kursk. It’s game on but really the Macs offer nothing new except some cool looking 27″ iMacs and some very sharp pricing. Macs haven’t been overpriced for years but now they’re looking cheap, and I don’t mean in a bad way. Windows 7 has successfully bridged the gap with OSX. Not totally, but enough to stop the Vista bleed-out and put Microsoft back in the fight. I haven’t seen things this interesting in years.

So all this is now making the decision as to what to buy next really hard. The clear reasons to stay with Mac aren’t there any more but the cost of staying is now very attractive. But with Windows 7 I can get similar OS competence and maybe play some games. I’d miss Aperture though but I suppose I could go the new Adobe Elements which has been redesigned. If I buy a Sony Vaio, I get Adobe software included, a cool computer and I can control it with the PlayStation 3 XMenU bar. I can get rid of the iPods and go to a Walkman and if I ever got a Bravia everything integrates as well as an Apple system and possibly better. Hmmm…what to do.

Olympus are bastards

I’m still pissed at Olympus. Why? Well a few years ago they PROMISED me an SLR for the outstanding service rendered to them. What service. you ask? Well, how about selling a shitload of their cameras and training my staff to do the same when every other salesperson in retail land was selling Canon because it’s easy. Recently, Olympus asked me if I’d be a Brand Champion for them. I said “sure, why not, what’s in it for me”. Turns out not a lot except for some training and a free junket in Sydney for a few days. Great fun but doesn’t feed the kids so WHERE’S MY FUCKING SLR?!!! Our Olympus rep, Mark, who I’ve known for years, last week made his regular trip to the store and before he had a chance to move, I sprung on him some market share analysis I printed from out POS system and guess what? I had more than doubled Olympus’ market share since returning to Domayne in December 2008. Single handed, I did it. Now, Olympus have many stores that turn over a lot more than ours but did I mention MORE THAN DOUBLE MARKET SHARE? So you bunch of tight assed cheapskates, WHERE”S MY FUCKING SLR? I deserve an E-30, minimum. I’d settle for an E-620 but for doubling the market share in our store they should say “Thanks Brad, you’re the best” with an E-30 and an 18-180mm lens.

Curiously, I have also tripled Nikon’s paltry market share, mainly because the rep Craig gives us stuff. All this market share increase has come from Canon which was once a very generous company but now isn’t. Our rep, Stella, is a fantastic rep and also a pole dancer so really, Canon should me hammering the others. But Canon margins get raped in the on-going retail war of attrition and Nikon and Oly don’t. It’s better for me to sell them. Fuji just gave me a camera, an F70, so I sell their compacts all the time. But unfortunately, I have a soft spot for Olympus that even their total lack of respect for me cannot assuage but as soon as Nikon gives me a D5000 then it’s bye-bye Oly and into bed with the enemy. I am a mercenary. Make no mistake about this. I will only sell your stuff if there’s something in it for me. Do you want to keep that market share, Olympus? Then cough up.

Sony Versus Toshiba

Vaio VGNP13

We’ve just put the new ranges of laptops from Sony and Toshiba on the shelves and it struck me as odd the total difference in approach between the two. I have been selling computer stuff for 15 years and have sold Toshis when they were 7kg bricks with passive screens, no storage and 30 minute battery life. Over the years, the consensus among sales staff has always been consistent. If you were to buy a laptop for yourself you’d buy a Toshi. Reason? They don’t break down.

Olympus are idiots.

In the distant past I was a keen supporter of the North Sydney Rugby League Football Club. In Australian Rugby League this is a situation that inspires sympathy and mirth in others. No other sporting team in the world had the knack of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory quite like the Bears. This made each win all the more exquisite and progressively rare. Norths supporters don’t need to say why they support them but each will nod knowingly to the other, silently affirming the choice to be a Norths man. They are gone now and Rugby League has never been the same. Some say it’s better but it really isn’t. Only Norths supporters understand why.

The Apple Nightmare

Once upon a time there was no more rabid Apple fanatic than me, no truer a convert and no finer rebutter of the Microsoft proposition than me. You see, when I hit my stride I am a vitriolic destroyer of an opponent’s position. I can be reasonable and factual or I can be a devious sophist using deception and ambiguity to undermine any alternative view. Mostly I argue because I derive the most enjoyment from being a pain in the arse, holding no firm beliefs in ANYTHING…except now. Because, what I do know with complete and absolute certainty is that I FUCKING HATE APPLE!!!

The real story of Christ

Christians annoy me. I don’t hate them, I just think they’re stupid for believing in fairy tales. Every Christian should go through this exercise. For month, every time they go to use the word “GOD” substitute the word “FAIRIES” instead. It will then become abundantly clear how silly this religion is. Especially this day and age. I don’t want to go into a lengthy diatribe about all the rubbish they believe but rather posit a plausible story about what I think might have actually happened.

Goodbye, USA

Romulus Augustus surrenders the Imperial Crown

I’m sick of ranting about Mac and PC and now that I’ve got it out of my system it’s time to look at other things going on. I’m now bored with the US election although the stupidity of Americans never ceases to impress. Sarah Palin is completely insane. Sure she looks good in a sort of MILF porn way and that’s a good thing but bragging that you’re just a hockey Mum with a gun is pretty terrifying. Just what the world needs, a clueless fundamentalist running a near bankrupt empire in its death throes. I’m thinking of the list of idiot emperors who saw out the last days of the Roman empire before being overrun by the barbarian hordes. There’s many similar examples in history and the decline of the USA will be listed amongst them by future historians.

New Macbook Prices

Too expensive MacBook

Are Apple completely insane?

Do they not go out in public and see what’s going on in retail. How could you not understand that you can buy a Toshiba or Compaq notebook with a better spec for half the cost of the cheapest MacBook? Even if you allow for the fact that they are probably better built with a better OS and iLife (see earlier posts) they absolutely should not be twice the price and higher. This bullshit pricing will test the faith of even the most sycophantic fanboy.

I’m on a bus last night with a bunch of Harvey Norman sales staff going to an awards bash. On the way home, Shane from a sister store fronts up to me and asks why I use Mac. My initial response is defensive because he is inexperienced with Mac and holds preconceived views. But I was realistic in my response and if he’d pressed me further I probably would have just said “I’m fucked if I know”. Maybe not. There’s still enough faith there to ensure I won’t buy another PC. But then since Apple are intent on giving me a fiscal fistfuck if I buy a Macbook, I’ll have to go without an upgrade for a while. Nice one dickheads.

Mac vs. PC 2.1 Historical Revisionism

Let’s go back in time to 1985. No reason, it’s just that that’s when I bought my Apple 2E with the 65C02 processor. Whooaa.. what a.. what a.. useless piece of junk. It did nothing. It wasn’t colour and the only games it could play were text games like Wizardry and Carriers at War, both great text games but I got limited time on them because of the constant failure of the dual floppy drives. I got a modem and went on-line to…nothing. There was ASCII porn which was cool but only bulletin boards full of machine code geeks. Still, that’s not Apple’s fault.