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Is The 6-Month Product Cycle Upon Us?

Posted by timothy on from the even-planneder-obsolesence dept.

Mark Goldstein writes "What is perhaps more interesting than the 4 new Konica Minolta cameras announced today is the rapid product cycle that seems to have been established by both Konica Minolta and other manufacturers." Rather than the yearly model updates that people have come to expect, the article notes that three members of this batch aren't even a year old, and one is only six months.

13 of 272 comments (clear)

  1. my luck/purchase cycle by way2trivial · · Score: 2, Funny
    I read about the newest products, and usually salivate and plan to purchase some, manage to time it so that the first real price drop hits the week after I buy

    I purchased a 799$ camera that then went to 799$ with a 100$ rebate, about 10 days after I purchased. then to 699 after the return policy/price match date ran out..
    I've also done this with cell phones, and cpu's

    --
    every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
    1. Re:my luck/purchase cycle by AndroidCat · · Score: 3, Funny

      Could you post when you're about to buy something so that the rest of us know to hold off purchasing for a week? Thanks!

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  2. Re:Whats next? by *weasel · · Score: 4, Funny

    No that was the 0 job cycle.

    --
    // "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
  3. Re:Whats next? by canoe_head · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'd say wait about a half a year and see...

  4. Re:This is an advertisement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    And with the one day story cycle, you can debate it again tommorow!

  5. Re:Dogbert by spiny · · Score: 2, Funny

    until the industry reaches the 'shoe event horizon' :)

    --

    Fry: heh, Yakov Smirnoff said it
    Leela: No he didn't.
  6. McNasty's Law by turgid · · Score: 2, Funny
    "The number of nervous breakdowns amongst staff doubles for every halving of the product cycle time."

    "If you're enjoying your work, you're not working hard enough." - Scottish proverb.

    --
    Stick Men
  7. Re:6 month life cycle...good or bad? by Last_Available_Usern · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yea...great for the consumer. What about us folks who have to have the latest and the greatest but can't afford it? I've accumulated almost $3 trillion in debt thanks to products like this. Guns, planes, toilet seats, etc...the list goes on. The manufacturers all tell me this new one is better then what I have, so I *have* to get them. Please stop forcing my hand.

    George Bush

  8. Re:Six month death spiral by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Heh. Microsoft perhaps not the best example of quicker product cycles, just at the moment...

  9. Konica-Minolta merger by mrm677 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I always wondered why they didn't call the new company "Monica".

  10. Re:Oh no... what will we do? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    The Beetle was like a good woman:
    Round, simple, cheap, and cute.

  11. dammit by troon · · Score: 2, Funny

    My Minolta A1 should be delivered tomorrow, and now it's already discontinued and out of date.

    Just like kernel releases, I guess...

    --
    Ydco co ,df C erb-y go. a Ekrpat t.fxrapev
  12. Ummm, try the *whole rest of the world* by Gordonjcp · · Score: 2, Funny

    OK, so the US has a telephone system to rival most third-world countries, but *most* cellular networks are digital.