Sell better? 🙄
"The Wall Street Journal reports that Fuji’s Instax cameras are selling in record numbers and far outpacing the company’s digital cameras. The company estimates that it sold 5 million of the cameras in the fiscal year that just ended last month, and that it will sell at least 6.5 million in the next year.
By comparison, the company only sold 1.4 million digital cameras in the previous year. What’s more, the standalone digital camera industry saw a 19% decline."
I handled the Sofort and functionally it is identical to the Fuji, and from a build perspective is just as plasticky. It is just more square and more shiny. I still like it.
The M10 I like more...
I know, 5 million! That's a ton of cameras. If they weren't so ugly, they'd probably sell a bunch more, like I've been saying over and over again! To repeat, yes, they are selling a lot... I think they could do better. Luckily for Fuji, they are basically the only game in town when it comes to purchasing a newly manufactured instant camera with newly made, inexpensive, high-quality film (that's not a small photo printer that doubles as a digital camera). The Impossible Project stuff is, in reality, an overpriced, underperforming, and low quality product. As Fuji is currently proving, Polaroid bailed out of the market a bit too early, and luckily this allows Fuji to sell a bunch of their ghastly little cameras and their neat little instant film. The black & white film they are offering now is pretty cool stuff, too.
So, selling a bunch of their little ugly-duckling cameras only shows the demand for that style of product, not necessarily that Fuji's instant cameras are all that great.
Seriously. Look at the Sofort. Yes, it's ridiculous that Leica can sell what is basically a rebadged Fuji Instax 90 in the shape of a European styled box for nearly 3X the price. Yet, it's somehow sold out in all 3 colors. Well, at least Fuji's Instax Mini 70 isn't so bad...
I'll totally agree that the M10 is looking pretty awesome!!!