Product Innovation and Pricing - Essay Example

The camera has an automatic mode which will enable reasonable quality photographs by even people with minimal knowledge of the subject. The price at less than $300 is attractive by market conditions. Here is a camera for the amateur photographer which is easy to carry and to use, with the potential to take sharp and good quality photographs with simplicity. The camera is clearly on the upper right quadrant of a VO Grid, and has the potential to participate aggressively in the emergent mass market for basic digital cameras for amateur use.

The Canon Power Shot S3 is a study in contrast with the earlier model. It meets the special needs of photography enthusiasts and professionals who may wish to take sharp photographs of objects and people at long distances. The technical features and capabilities of this product sacrifice convenience almost entirely because it is large enough to require a case of its own and would need to be slung around the user's neck. It can draw attention in a social situation which many people would not like.

However, it does offer physical evidence of the user being a photography enthusiast or even a professional. This camera cost about $500, which means that only those committed to regular and specialized use would be willing to make purchase decisions in its favor. The major value proposition is the 12x zoom which a relatively small niche of people may value. It offers high value for a certain target, but would not be of interest to most consumers. The Canon Power Shot A 540 has 3 direct competitors: the Casio Exilim EX-Z850, the Fujifilm FinePix F 10, and the Sony Cyber Shot DSC-T9.

The relative inconvenience of conventional film cameras implies that the indirect competition is not serious. The high resolution and high portability of these cameras place them in a category distinct from video cameras. The market segment of amateurs, who need a convenient and easy solution for occasional photographs, is adequately met by these four brands to compete adequately with each other as a set. The Fujifilm presents a strong challenge with a price tag just below $200. It is an important benefit for the company to promote and has the potential to hit its 3 competitors hard.

The Sony, with a 58 MB memory, has a key advantage of being able to store significantly more images than any of the competitors. Running out of memory can be a common problem on any occasion, and it may not always be possible to transfer records to storage media at frequent intervals. The Sony therefore offers a value parameter that the competition cannot match, hence Sony should be able to use this feature to gain market share. The Casio, with 8.1 Mega Pixels can offer large prints of excellent resolution, but most people who would value this feature may opt for more professional cameras.

However, there is scope for Casio to add plenty of service (Payne, 2002) by way of creating awareness of the advantages of large prints, in order to create new demand for its product. 8.1 Mega Pixels at less than 5 oz weight is a combination with value potential for customers, but the company will have to work towards generating demand. The Canon is a kind of compromise, offering a balance of the features of its competitors.Competitive Pricing It is entirely legal for a restaurant owner to copy the price of a generic dish from a competitor, as long as he or she