What made Hasselblad Leica CEO announce his resignation before the global camera exhibition

Shortly after entering 2017, two long-established giants in the camera industry underwent major personnel changes.

On January 27, 2017, Perry Oosting, CEO of the famous camera brand Hasselblad, suddenly announced his resignation and will complete all formalities within this month to officially leave Hasselblad. The resignation announcement at this "sensitive" time will inevitably arouse some suspicion from the outside world.

But Perry Oosting is not the only one who suddenly resigned.

(Hasselblad CEO Perry Oosting)

On February 1, 2017, Oliver Kaltner, the current global CEO of LEICA Camera, also announced his resignation. He will also leave Leica in August this year.

Oliver Kaltner did not disclose the reason for his resignation. However, German media WETZLARER NEUE ZEITING reported that this may be related to the disagreement between Oliver Kaltner and the board of directors. Earlier, there were rumors that the board of directors had been dissatisfied with Oliver Kaltner's performance and felt that it was not appropriate for Oliver Kaltner, who came from Microsoft, to manage Leica using the methods of a large company. Perhaps this atmosphere of disagreement led to his resignation.

The two giants have changed their leaders, and the focus is on the word "acquisition"?

In addition, the current CEOs of Hasselblad and Leica both resigned at sensitive times. Some believe that this may be related to the "acquisition."

When talking about Hasselblad, the rumor that DJI acquired Hasselblad comes to mind. As early as November 2016, DJI made a strategic investment in Hasselblad , which was the first step for the two companies to truly intersect. Hasselblad launched quite a few new products or combinations in 2017:

In June 2017, Hasselblad launched the world's first medium-format mirrorless camera, the X1D ; in July 2017, Hasselblad and DJI jointly launched the A5D + M600 medium-format aerial photography combination ; in August 2017, Hasselblad launched an optical zoom module dedicated to MOTO Z

Looking at this year's products, even without mentioning the simple accessories compared to Motorola, Hasselblad has also ushered in some changes in its product pace.

Compared to the past when Hasselblad followed the pace of medium format updates, the current Hasselblad is undoubtedly more "active". This may have something to do with DJI's investment, or it may also have something to do with the deeper cooperation between the two. DJI is not only pursuing product cooperation between the two, and Hasselblad may also have greater changes in its products in the future. It's just that today, both parties are keeping their mouths shut, so we can't see further or more accurately.

Compared with Hasselblad, Leica's intention to change leadership may only remain at the simple level of "differences of opinion" and "different policies".

(Leica and Panasonic sign a cooperation agreement)

A year ago, at CP+ 2016, Leica and Huawei signed a strategic cooperation agreement, and Huawei's P9 and Mate 9 products have a bit of "German flavor" that was not originally theirs. However, Leica did not gain much from this cooperation.

After all, these two phones are different from Leica and Panasonic's LX series and Leica Q. Leica's relationship with Huawei is like Zeiss's certification in the past. There is not much integration in the products, just authorization and OEM. For those users who are not obsessed with photography, this cooperation may only bring them a little more "German flavor" when underexposing.

Therefore, if we need to derive the issue of Leica’s CEO’s resignation from the cooperation between Leica and Huawei, it may be a bit far-fetched and the correlation is a bit weak.

The biggest difference between Leica and Hasselblad is the consideration of "survival"

However, Leica and Hasselblad are different. Leica, which focuses on the 135 full-frame market, faces much greater pressure to survive than Hasselblad.

German media WETZLARER NEUE ZEITING said that the current camera market is basically dominated by C and N, and the mirrorless world may also be in the hands of Sony and the M43 formation. Although Leica faces a relatively small group and its system is already very complete, its appeal is constantly weakening in the face of these competitors in the same field.

As the "German flavor" continues to fade, and the control, materials, and performance are far behind other products, Leica may become a plaything in the hands of collectors. The general users have little desire to upgrade, and are tired of various color versions, and their subsequent spending power has also declined. This should be a problem that Leica should consider now. Or the board of directors also hopes that after changing the CEO, it can also bring some new directions to Leica.

In the second half of 2015, when Leica launched the LEICA Q, the term "full electronicization" could be used to describe the company's determination to explore new areas. In 2016, the term "100,000+" could be used to describe the company. But in 2017, how will Leica change in this era? We will only see the first signs of the answer in CP+ or in August.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.