I sometimes get flack when I write about marketing mistakes Nikon makes. A couple of people have written to say that my "Nikon causes Christmas grief" comment is overblown. But consider the following email I received today:
My son is a teen looking eagerly to move up into a DSLR. He enjoys shooting low light and night shots, hand-held. With the announcement last month that we would see the new 18-55 VR lens in December, we decided on a D40. This in spite of the fact that for now, we would have to eat the mandatory non-VR kit lens (I’m sure demand on eBay for that would be modest). He wanted the camera by Christmas to coincide with holiday travel/photo plans.
Cut to the chase: nobody had the VR in stock. Nikon emailed me saying “sometime in December” was all they could confirm. Wednesday we broke down and ordered the Canon Xti (with 18-55 IS lens) from B&H. A very capable camera, just not our first pic. It should be here today or tomorrow. Twenty minutes ago, B&H notified me that the Nikon VR lens is in. Oh, well...
So at the risk of repeating myself: when you introduce products so close to Christmas, you can lose customers. Nikon just lost one more. Oh, and I suppose there's a bit of news in this item: the 18-55mm VR is now shipping.