Why would these people buy a Leica instead of a Hasselblad? ...especially as a proportion of them would be upgrading an existing Hasselblad system.
Why is the best known manufacturer of hand-held mirror-free cameras branching out into mirror "technology" just when some of us are realising that the days of mirrored cameras are numbered?
I know you have wood for view cameras and movements, but my cardio thorasic surgeon neighbor doesn't want to deal all that hassel. These guys are dilitantes, to a degree. They do have high pressure jobs, 70 hours a week. This guy harvests lungs on Life Flight, going to auto accidents for transplant organs, then transplantin them into another living person. So this guy doesn;t have time to learn something new, like movements, which really are only useful with static subjects, and how useful are they? Can you drag your P3 and all the supporting gear on a plane and take a vacation with it? Not a photo safari, but a nice vacation? Take inspired snaps? No, its big and bulky and requires a tripod, and tethering. It also is futsy, clutsy, wire rigged. I know its not, but again, we are dealing with perceptions.
Why not Blad? Why Leica? Because Leica is the "best." The lenses are the "best." The Leica is designed and built like, well, a Leica, or a Panzerkampfwagen V, or a Benz. The H is plastic and stupid looking (not that it is, but we are dealing with perceptions here). The H has some odd non-northern European orgins, maybe. There is the Fuji link. Leica spells
S-E-X. Fuji spells B-L-A-N-D. Hasselblad spells F-U-N-C-T-I-O-N-A-L, like a Ford.
In summery: Blad blew its brand recognition with the H. People see the 500 series and go "ohhhh". They see an H and they say "thats a big camera. Is it plastic?" People see a Leica, even my beat to hell M6, all brass and dents, and say: "wow, that's a cool camera".
I've been working a little on the client side of advertising lately, partnering with ad agencies, well, really only one, but I am providing creative. I've learned a lot about marketing, and I think the S2 will sell well enough. There is a market, the psychology is right, the brand is STRONG, maybe the strongest in photography, the target market has cash on hand, for the most part. I think Leica will do well, probably not with pros, and probably not in rental, but it will sell.