Digital lenses

[A-con]

I’ve been looking in to new “point & shoot” digital camera. I’ve noticed that some of them now have “name brand” lens. Many Panasonics now have “Leica” lens, and Sonys have “Carl Zeiss” lens. A camera store salesman was telling me that these lens are made in Hong Kong, but have paid a license fee to use the names of the famous German lens makers.
So what do you think, are the lenses in a Panasonic/Leica or a Sony/Zeiss any better then the lenses in a Pentax or a Kodak ?

 

[JB]

Acon, some reviews on the subject:
http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00GBiU&tag=

 

[A-con]

Thanks JB, just what I was looking for. (sort of)