While all of this number of employees and stuff discussion is very interesting and quite informative, not sure just how relevant it will be if Leica is unable to price their products, and service the professionals they are targeting so that folks actually buy the gear. All the trained techs and assembly folks in Leitz-Park will matter little if the S2 is priced too high to get anybody interested in buying it.
On the flip side, if Leica takes a much more aggressive approach and prices the S2 to really get it into the market, then all those folks and techs and stuff may be useful to help service things at the level that professionals need. (The best is to just have the gear work properly all the time, and not need to be going back for adjustments/fixes, like the M8 when it came out.)
I really do not think it is so important as to which company has more employees (Hasselblad or Leica or Phase or whomever). If they put out a great, reliable and affordable product and service the buyers properly, they will be able to gain market share. If they build it well, and it does not break, they do not need lots of service folks. If they have to handhold users through all sorts of quirks and things, then maybe a big service group is important, but that will not sell well into the pro user community that just wants gear to work whenever they need it to. Just my thoughts on some of this.
LJ
On the flip side, if Leica takes a much more aggressive approach and prices the S2 to really get it into the market, then all those folks and techs and stuff may be useful to help service things at the level that professionals need. (The best is to just have the gear work properly all the time, and not need to be going back for adjustments/fixes, like the M8 when it came out.)
I really do not think it is so important as to which company has more employees (Hasselblad or Leica or Phase or whomever). If they put out a great, reliable and affordable product and service the buyers properly, they will be able to gain market share. If they build it well, and it does not break, they do not need lots of service folks. If they have to handhold users through all sorts of quirks and things, then maybe a big service group is important, but that will not sell well into the pro user community that just wants gear to work whenever they need it to. Just my thoughts on some of this.
LJ