[hinkley]

A similar story happened with digital cameras. A few of the film companies practically went out of business before the electronics got sorted out and what differentiated the good from the bad cameras circled back to the mechanical parts, which the incumbents had locked down ages ago. The pure digital play companies faded and some were acquired, and one day Nikon or Canon had the best DSLR system.

[nebula8804]

Thats unfortunate. What if there are certain aspects to existing cameras that are only there because a lesson was learned in the past but is no longer ideal in todays context. If there are no new comers that have the cash to burn to 're-evaluate' how everything is done today then we are missing out on potential innovations.

This process is like re-factoring old code but in real life.

[majormajor]

That's how Sony ate up a bunch of marketshare recently, actually, post-DSLR, by doing mirrorless early and well.

They were involved already in the industry as a component supplier, and then expanded to take advantage of the incumbents moving slowly.