Sony NEX-7 majorly delayed due to flood

20 Comments

1. I’m actually surprised that most of the comments here make good sense and addressed various concerns raised by the flooding in Thailand(both in terms of delaying of the product, and caring for those poor people being affected).

   I heard elsewhere that sufficient supply of the NEX 7 could come as late as March next year, which, considering the current situation and hints from the press release (see how NEX 7 release date changed to TBD while those of some other products actually showing sometime in December), might actually be quite plausible.

   I was hoping to get it before Christmas, in time for my Taiwan trip. Guess it’s not gonna happen then /,\

2. Every hot, highly anticipated camera in the last two years has been delayed! Unfortunately this and the fujix100 were both surrounding disasters. I don’t mean to sound insensitive to the people affected by these disasters, but I’m wondering how much corporate strategy plays into this, as oppose to real production issues.

   In either case – God Bless!….we’ll wait.

3. My wife work @ the biggest electronic store in Japan which is Bic Camera, all their sony product does not contain english menu, other than that everything else has english. that i can’t explain why.
   anyway i’m still waiting for NEX-7 like the rest of you.

4. According to reports here in Tokyo, Japanese shipments will still go according to schedule, the rest of the world will have to wait. I do think that Sony has a limited production run within Japan for the home market only.

5. Interesting the a77 doesn’t appear to be affected. Presumably that’s being manufactured from Japan. Anyone know?

6. Our thoughts and prayers to the people of Thailand… From a neighboring country whose towns and cities in some areas are still submerged in knee- and chest-deep floodwaters. 🙁 And it hasn’t rained in two weeks…

7. For people of Thailand this is another problem they have to face on top of the immediate damage to their private property and public resources – the drop of economic activity (which must be vital for the country) because of facilities like the one of SONY being destroyed.

8. The cameras don’t matter at the moment. My thoughts are with the people affected by this disaster. I have friends over there in Thailand and every day I hope they will not suffer from the flood.

9. Tragic for sure on so many levels. One thing that occurred to me though is assuming some production is shifted to different plants, if that increases the risk of defective units. Is setting up a new production line, training new workers, trying to retrofit some other production equipment etc going to lead to differing quality than had the original plan still been in operation ?

   Obviously there are far more important humanitarian concerns right now, but down the road when the units do start shipping, I can’t help but think there will be internet forum bound rumors about bodies made in different factories and certain serial numbers being worth more or less etc

   • I suspect that there will indeed be a higher incidence of QC issues for all the reasons that you mentioned. Furthermore, If some of the equipment in the original factory is salvaged I suspect that QC issues may arise since the equipment was never designed to withstand that environment. I would also expect QC issues even if production resumes in the original factory since the workers will no doubt be dealing with mental distress. Who wants to focus on building a camera when your main priority is rebuilding your life.

     • I am in no position to tell Sony how to run their business; however, based on my past work experience – and as a consumer of Sony products (including NEX equipment) for over a decade – here are my suggestions to insure the continued quality level of NEX equipment going forward:

       1. Move high-end NEX equipment manufacturing and final assembly to Japan. Since the manufacturing costs (with or without an additional EVF) of the NEX-7 and the NEX-C3 are much closer than one may think, the vastly superior profit margins on the NEX-7 will more than compensate for the increased production costs incurred by producing this equipment in Japan.
       2. Move wafer and/or final packaging of affected Sony sensors to Japan. See above.
       3. Once NEX-7 manufacturing is up and running, ramp-up NEX-5n production at the same Japanese plant. The lost production capacity incurred by transferring NEX-5n production to Japan will help offset the loss in sales due to the Clicking-video-shutter-mechanism debacle.
       4. Transfer only the NEX-C3 production to the Sony Thailand car-audio facility. By concentrating only on one, low-end product, the impact on actual engineering quality and on perceived consumer quality will be minimized.
       5. Prepare a promotional campaign touting the NEX-VG20 as a viable alternative to the NEX-7 as a still-image camera. The superior image quality and physical handling (especially with telephoto lenses) of the NEX-VG20 compared to the NEX-7 will be enticing selling points for those that use there photographic equipment to actually take pictures. This should help limit sales of NEX-7s to those that purchase photographic equipment as a symbol of their social standing.

       Salutations,

       Lokian

       • All you are saying seems good to me,but it doesnt really have anything to do with the floods,so if they havent done it yet,they probably have their own reason(aka Higher profit)

10. Enjoy the NEX-7 while you have it. For now, though, sony needs to get out a firmware update so my NEX-5 will work with my LA-EA2. That would make me happy for now.

11. This totally sucks. So not only when they do finally come out, it’s going to be very difficult to get one. (this is not commentary on the flood, which is terrible for the people effected)

12. So it looks like they won’t be putting out the stock they do have for now. :/

    • My understanding is that most of the stock was destroyed. Anyone hear otherwise?

      • It could have been. From what I saw, almost all factories in the areas were completely flooded (1.5-3 m in height). Many roads had been completely cut off for a week or so. A large amount of floodwater (2000-3000 million cubic meter) had breached through all barriers along the way. It may reach Central Bangkok in the next 24 hours.

      • Sony USAhave stated they are still evaluating stock levels and Sony style have not adjusted ship date. The delay announced was not for the USA, though Canada is stating a 2-4 week delay…which makes me think they are getting screwed so we can get ours here, lol.

13. My thought goes out to those victims. Hope everything will be fine over there.

14. Bummer! (with all due respect to those affected, of course)

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