Why Canon is Banning USA residents?

New EOS M is out with surely some great improvements, but then hey wait:
Not for sale in USA.
AGAIN?
That is following same policy when EOS M2 came out.
What did USA residents do to deserve this ban? Isn't that USA photographers are the most loyal Canon consumers? yet get punished?
As a total love of EOS M series line of product (You can see my record here on POTN) I am just curious...
Any thoughts?

This is the first I paid any attention to the EOS M series. I just read an article about the new mirrorless Canon cameras being released and they seem to be rich with features for a very reasonable price.

Now why they are not selling in the USA at this time is a curious situation. Certainly it has something to do with money, money, money.

Well, or you ask yourself, from the business pt of view, why would they sell it in the US market?

Nikon tried with their J1/2/etc line, and look at how much market share they have gotten with that. I'm sure that factored in Canon's decision.

The USA market has always been "BIGGER IS BETTER!" and very resistant to change. Therefore, your average big electronic store consumers (remember, those are the EOS-M's target audience) pretty much look at those smaller cameras as weaklings. Combined with the Rebels (and Nikon's Dxxxx's) selling for pretty cheap, they would pretty much get those by default. Just look at the penetration of m3/4 and mirrorless cameras in the USA market in general compared to the rest of the world. Sure it has been growing, but for now still nowhere near the regular SLR lines.

Introducing another product here is quite very expensive. So your math becomes, which do I make more profits? Putting lots of marketing money in something that the consumers here are not screamingly demanding for, or keep selling only the line that the demand is still pretty strong? The EOS-M lens lineup is at the moment very weak. You're going to have a tough time convincing people to get that while at the same time bragging about the EF lens lineup that you can use with the cheap Rebel. No, that converter is not going to help unless they give it out for free (which still defeats the purpose of having a small camera).

If Canon released a mirrorless with the right feature set for me, I'd be interested, and this one is getting close. It's hardly a ban. Canon likes everybody's money, but what is their incentive to distribute in markets lacking demand? US mirrorless sales projections must be continuing to look dim (however accurate or inaccurate that may be).

The up side is that if you insist on getting one, necessity dictates that you buy a gray market copy, which might save you a little coin.

Wasn't the M2 Asia only so Europe got added with the M3 maybe then the M4 will go global

This kind of gives us an idea of just how important the USA market is.

+1 >> Money, Money and More Money.

Heya,

As an avid EOS-M user, I'd love a newer version with more features that are useful.

But not at a cost that makes me just say "I could have gotten..."

The reason the EOS-M is even represented on this forum, frankly, is because it was discontinued and could be bought for $250~300 with a lens.

At $600~900 for a camera and lens, the EOS-M frankly has too strong of competition that already has market, like Fuji's offerings.

I'm not surprised to see more M's being produced and updated, but not in the USA market, as they would just lose money there like they did the first time. They have to release an overhauled game changer here in the USA to get market here with the mirrorless options already just trying to keep up with what Sony & Fuji are doing there.

Very best,

Related with consumers' trend of switching compact cameras to smartphones, in Q1 2013 Canon Inc. operating profit fell 34 percent year-on-year.

The above was extracted from an article on the internet. Obviously the compact camera market has been severely impacted by smartphones and thus the compact camera market can be a risky investment for a major corporation such as Canon. The EOS M series to me is a glorified compact camera and therefore has no appeal. I can do the same with a smartphone. In fact 4 months ago I purchase the Canon S110 and decided to return it because my smartphone did just as well.

Having said all this I still believe that Canon does not see a strong market for the EOS M in the United States at this time. Rest assured, if there marketing studies showed a strong demand for the EOS M in the US, then we would be seeing it offered here. It is a simple economics 101....supply & demand.

samsen wrote in post #17421486
New EOS M is out with surely some great improvements, but then hey wait:
Not for sale in USA.
AGAIN?
That is following same policy when EOS M2 came out.
What did USA residents do to deserve this ban? Isn't that USA photographers are the most loyal Canon consumers? yet get punished?
As a total love of EOS M series line of product (You can see my record here on POTN) I am just curious...
Any thoughts?

...apparently Alien Bee Lights are the bees knees. The specs on the Einstein are absolutely perfect for what I want.

But I can't buy them here in NZ.

Well I could: but it would cost twice as much as it would to buy them in the States. Then I'd have to pay import duty. Then add Goods and Services Tax on top. Then if they broke I'd have a devil of a time getting them fixed.

Alien Bee's are not "banned" here. But Paul Buff has made a business decision that it is not economical to sell to places outside of the US and Canada, as is his right. It sucks for us people down under, but living in the ass end of the world we are used to not being able to get the coolest stuff most of the time and having to make do with what we can get.

So you can't buy a EOS M? Well you can. Find an overseas shop that is selling it, then buy it, then jump through hoops to get it imported. Or start a campaign and lobby Canon to change their minds. But Canon have made a decision that I'm sure is based on the numbers: and I don't think that there is anything wrong with that.

DigiBill wrote in post #17422156
The EOS M series to me is a glorified compact camera and therefore has no appeal. I can do the same with a smartphone.

This is only true to a point, and then the smartphone is dead in the water.

If your phone's sensor can do what the size of an APS-C sensor can do, then I would have no argument. But the phone simply doesn't, and can't do anything remotely close to what an APS-C sensor does.

Very best,

Banning is probably a poor choice in words. I'm certain if you really really want an EOS M3 you can always order one from overseas.

I've bought heaps of photographic gear online out of Hong Kong at very reasonable prices.

To me this seems just like the audio business. By that I mean the "younger" generation have no lust for high quality equipment and results. My 3 sons could care less if they listen to a movie/music on my high end audio system or on their tv speakers or pad with cheapo ear buds. Same with cameras, they are all perfectly content using their phones. I have given cameras to all 3 sons but they have no interest. I feel like a dinosaur. No wonder there are no audio stores, no camera stores left in business.

As to the M, I am another that was influenced by MalVeaux and others here to it's usage and benefits. I have the full M kit with 4 lenses. Absolutely awesome travel package - light and very compact. Would I have purchased this with the camera at full price? Probably not. Now if a new M model comes out that has some miracle way to have a built in eyepiece viewfinder and a tilt screen in the size of the current M then I will make the purchase as those are my only 2 "wants". The current M takes wonderful pictures - no complaints with the results at all. Sure if they could make it a 6D in that tiny body would be the ultimate for low light.

As to the M3 - it is nice and has some appealing features. Maybe some day if the price crashes like the original M did I might purchase it. Will most likely end up waiting some more to get features I feel I have to have and will be willing to order from Asia or wherever. At this time, I am just loving my current M.

Petie53 wrote in post #17422739
Same with cameras, they are all perfectly content using their phones.

but then on the other hand, not every pic needs to be an awesome art piece with the best color rendering and sharpness possible. cell phone pics are actually pretty darn good and enough for casual purposes.

Oh I agree totally with that and I have used my phone many times when without my camera. It just seems that at least for my sons who are just into their 30's that they are totally satisfied and have no interest in low light, telephoto, close-up, etc type shots. All they seem to want is to capture quick snaps with their buds. Nothing wrong with that but they will never print a photo or put it on a computer or TV to enjoy. Only interest is in electronically sharing the image quickly. They don't save any of their photos longer than a month or so. Very different than my view of photography.

We JUMPED on an EOS-M with three lenses + adapter for less than $450....best bang for dollar/sensor size/IQ quality out there.
But you're right, it'd have to be a HUGE game changer for the 'M' to ever gain anything on Fuji/Panasonic/Sony; in fact I'm soon to
add a GH4 + lenses.