Pentax Q: for whom?

Pentax announced the Pentax Q, a very compact camera with interchangeable lenses. In contrast with other compact system cameras, the Pentax Q doesn’t have a large sensor however. The sensor is comparable in size with the sensor of the better compact camera, so the image quality is probably similar too. The question arises who is the target audience for this camera. Interchangeable lenses are not a goal, they are a means to an end. The lenses are interchangeable so that a large zoom range can be combined with a high image quality (read: large sensor). The popularity of the 18-200mm superzoom for DSLR cameras proves that photographers prefer not to change lenses if they do not really have to! If the sensor of the Pentax Q is not larger than the sensor in a superzoom compact camera, the usefulness of interchangeable lenses remains limited, but it does increase the price substantially. The question therefor is who Pentax sees as the prospective buyer of this camera system.