Yep, that word "Date" in the headline is in quotes for a reason: more and more we're not even getting announcements on a specific date any more.
In the business world, you always want to manage and control your marketing message, and when you have a new product, that management used to start with the product's "announcement."
Oh dear, now "announcement" is in quotes! ;~) And that's because as far back as I can remember, companies would be trying to manage what will be reported and stated by the press at the actual announcement by sneak-peaking it under NDA to key press (and these days, influencers). Steve Jobs at Apple used to use these "early demos" as both a carrot and stick. If you were repeating the Apple mantras correctly, you got the carrot (a Steve Jobs demo). If you weren't (or were in Jobs' doghouse because you wouldn't accept a bribe [long story there]), the stick was that you didn't get to see anything before the official announcement, though some on Jobs staff—thank you Guy Kawasaki—would give you a smaller carrot.
In the camera business during the DSLR era, the big companies all pretty much played by established rules: NDA-ed early access to known influential and wide audience press, nothing else until the official announcement day. But even before peak camera was reached in 2011/2012 we started to see those that couldn't crack the Big Two (e.g. everyone other than Canon and Nikon) started using leaks to raise FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) and to suggest better things might be coming from elsewhere. The mirrorless era has been nothing but lots of leakage, even official leakage (e.g. Fujifilm now publishes dates of upcoming X Summits, and they always announce a new product at X Summits).
We've seen pretty much all the companies now come out with Development Announcements and tease campaigns. What's been interesting to me is that I pretty much know what those are going to be about before they actually occur, so leakage is a very established thing now.
But that's not what this article is about. I've been struggling recently in dealing the plethora of Chinese lenses. They're shown and announced (often just in China) long before they are actually announced, before they appear on the company's Web site, and long before you can actually purchase one. There seems to be almost no discipline involved in the way the Chinese are "announcing" products any more. I'll often get an email asking if I want to "participate" in early access to a product that, as far as the Internet knows, doesn't yet exist. Usually that's a tit-for-tat ask, as in "we'll send you the lens if you agree to...".
What prompted this article is my having to grapple with "when" do I post information on my sites? Exactly when is the announcement now? A demonstration of a finished product at a trade show, sans press release? A press release? The actual availability date? What? I no longer can figure that out for most of the Chinese companies, and even a few of the Japanese ones. At least the primary company I cover, Nikon, is still acting as if the product release cycle has never changed from the film era. For them, a press release means I can write about the product. In many cases, I've already done most of my writing about the product, but you don't see it until Nikon's embargo date hits.
The US-based rumor sites, of course, love this, as all the leakage and announcement sloppiness looks like they're tuned into some secret pipeline of information. But consider the last three Chinese AF lenses for the Z mount. One was leaked by B&H suddenly having it available for pre-purchase (no information appears on the lens maker's site), while the other two have been at various camera shows and events prior to their "official" announcement. I guess I should announce them now, too.
Of course, I don't know what you'll really pay for those new lenses, as the whole tariff situation seems to change day by day.
In Silicon Valley back when we were first discussing what became the Internet, there was a difference of opinion about many things. One key one was whether having an open pipeline of information would bring order or chaos. I was of the opinion that it would be chaos. I think we're nearly fully there.
The problem with chaos is that it's a huge friction to any type of overall and long-term success. The Chinese are getting a great deal of coverage for lenses right now, but they're not managing that in a way that's going to bring them more sales, in my opinion. If anything, they're likely getting fewer sales, as they often are FUDing themselves. Erratic and casual handling of press also hints that the handling of customers might be the same, by the way. Perhaps this is all working the way they want it to in China, but if the Chinese photography companies ever want to topple the Japanese world wide, they're going to have to grow up and get better control of their messaging.
