Phase One

steve_cor said:

I read that Silverfleet has sold their share of Phase One.

You could search Silverfleet sells Phase One to Axcel for 4.6x.

I don't think Phase One will be affected by ownership transfer from one private equity firm to another.



--Steve.

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True, and the press release by Silverfleet is very interesting and confirms what has been apparent in recent years:

" Since [acquiring Phase One 5 years ago], Silverfleet has supported Phase One to undergo a significant transformation, from a hardware to software-centric business focus, which has helped drive a revenue CAGR of +38% in its Software Imaging Systems business unit between 2014 and 2018."

Given the business strategy, it's no surprise that Phase decided not to spend the R&D money to develop a mirrorless system that would compete with the GFX and the X1D. They opened up Capture One to Fuji and raised the white flag. Disappointing, because whatever you may think about Phase's pricing policy, it has an extremely talented group of employees who would be capable of producing a formidable alternative to the GFX and the X1D. What seems so compelling to me now is for Phase and Hasselblad to merge their operations together. Phase could cover the high end and the software, and Hasselblad the lower end. Unfortunately, there is likely too much bad blood between them.

hcubell said:

True, and the press release by Silverfleet is very interesting and confirms what has been apparent in recent years:

" Since [acquiring Phase One 5 years ago], Silverfleet has supported Phase One to undergo a significant transformation, from a hardware to software-centric business focus, which has helped drive a revenue CAGR of +38% in its Software Imaging Systems business unit between 2014 and 2018."

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*shrugs*

PR for a PE has to have a narrative.

No question C1 software has been on a tear; P1 keeps improving C1 for the pro/serious market and Adobe keeps moving more toward prosumers as their target for LR.

But hardware has been invested in and is growing as well. This is the same period of time over which the IQ4 was made, which was a ground-up rebuild with new hardware, new operating system, new software, new UI, and new features along with a new sensor. If P1 wasn't continuing to invest in hardware the IQ4 150mp would have been an IQ3 100mp with a new sensor; doing everything ground up was a huge investment and is now paying dividends with features like frame averaging that would not have been possible in the IQ3 architecture. Likewise the iXG 150mp was recently announced with new interface, new protocols, and other new internal tech.

I'm biased, but every sign I have is that P1 has and is continuing to ramp their investment in all areas of their business (software, hardware for photographers, hardware for cultural heritage, hardware for aerial). I'd expect to continue to see aggressive new investment in hardware; these are all synergistic areas for P1.

Of course, P1 has made it pretty clear their focus on the hardware side is the very best image quality and serious feature set, with other desirables (e.g. cost, size, weight) being secondary to those goals, so that guides what hardware products they have invested / continue to invest in.

But, bookmark this page and come back in a few years to see which of us was right. We're both just speculating.

Doug that’s your side...

For me the story is different. The IQ4 Launch was very bad, the last year has been super quite for real XF or IQ Feature updates... one could argue all the Energie went into the IQ4, however, I honestly hope that’s not true.... I still don’t understand how a company like phase one can launch such an unfinished product and actually can’t manage to get their act together after 7 months... we talking a out 45k product not a 500 US dollar product.

Communication has been none existing or should I say ****? Regarding updates or timetables. I have always supported phase one from the p45 and was happy. I’m still happy but that’s because I can afford two own a iq3 besides the iq4 and a gfx system. If I only had an IQ4 I would be pissed as hell for such a product at that price point.

Christopher said:

Doug that’s your side...

For me the story is different. The IQ4 Launch was very bad, the last year has been super quite for real XF or IQ Feature updates... one could argue all the Energie went into the IQ4

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That's absolutely right. GREAT back, but the launch was pretty rough. And in fact, not just the launch - Phase One still has a ways to go to fully fulfill the feature promises of the IQ4 launch (zero latency and ad hoc networking being the most prominent examples). But FU1 gives me a lot of hope they will do so, and more. Time will tell; if you're at the edge of your patience I don't blame you, but I'd hold right on that edge to see if they can make it up to you.

Re: communication with P1... Phase One is set up to communicate with their end users via their partner channel. To this end, I feel we (DT) have done a good job of keeping our clients informed and happy during this rough IQ4 launch by making sure they were aware of what was and was not yet implemented before they purchased, and helping find workarounds and other solutions where applicable.

Of course, I acknowledge I'm biased.

Whatever the plusses and minuses about communication and speed of implementation, the image quality of the IQ series is simply the best available to mere mortals.
Sure, I REALLY want Capture Pilot and Ad Hoc etc etc, but In the meantime I'm taking pictures with a camera that is far superior to my ability...
I'll keep the faith!

(But do speed it up a bit, Phase!)

Bill Caulfeild-Browne said:

Whatever the plusses and minuses about communication and speed of implementation, the image quality of the IQ series is simply the best available to mere mortals.
Sure, I REALLY want Capture Pilot and Ad Hoc etc etc, but In the meantime I'm taking pictures with a camera that is far superior to my ability...
I'll keep the faith!

(But do speed it up a bit, Phase!)

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+1. And then some.