Here are a few figures I hope everyone will find interesting..

Ketron Italy
2009 Sales (mil.) $6.0
Employees Total 21

Korg Inc.
2009 sales $173.5 (mil.)
Employees Total 290

Roland Corp.
2009 sales $387.7 (mil.)
Employees Total 2,708

Yamaha Corp.
2009 sales $4,721 (mil.)
Employees Total 26,803


As everyone can see Yamaha leaves everybody in the dust BUT their total is the "combined" total of ALL product divisions including their Motorcycles, Powered Jet Skis, Boats, Electronics, etc. Roland and Korg (and Ketron) are essentially selling musical instrument products only and products related to music media e.g speakers, recording devices, parts and accessories, etc.

What amazes me is that Ketron is still around at all. You have to hand it to Ketron's President Mario Falcioni whose tenacity at keeping Ketron afloat these last several years deserves major kudos for doing so. But I must add a strong note of caution about Ketron's foreseeable future as far as holding out much longer. If they do GREAT! But I have a lingering suspicion that Ketron may be facing a grim financial outlook in the near future as they struggle to make ends meet, and we could very well see the proverbial "writing on the wall" and their untimely demise at any time if you ask me.

General Music went belly up not too long ago and Ketron could be the next one to succumb to the dire world economy in my opinion. With the world economy still in the throes of a deep deep recession it is no wonder that thousands of companies are going under each year. And before General Music there was Technics (remember them??) - immediately leaving hundreds of KN7000 owners 'hung out to dry' as a result.

So as we see the arranger keyboard world whittled away by non-performing companies such as Technics and General Music what we have left standing is the Big Three and little else e.g. basically only Casio, Ketron, and Lionstracs. Whereas Casio is actually up and coming, Ketron seems to me to be on the way out or at the very least seen as "faltering" in the marketplace. Lionstracs is "up in the air" (out of sync) and very questionable as well, if you ask me. And only time will tell their fate(s) but I really hope they are able to overcome their difficulties and continue to thrive as companies. More competition means more choices for consumers and more choices means better prices for consumers overall. As we know many factors predispose the final outcome of various companies worldwide and the main harbinger for success in most cases, in my opinion, is whether the products being sold are considered top notch in quality and features, successfully marketed as such, reasonably priced against the competition, and what may be considered most important of all (at least by me anyway) - diligently "supported" by the manufacturer 'after' the sale. If companies adhere to those aforementioned principles they should be able to prosper and excel in the marketplace and even in tough times in my opinion. Examples being Yamaha, Korg, Roland and Casio. For the others, I wish for their success also. Time will tell of course.

All the best,
Mike