Thanks for your thoughts, sirs.
PB PM: you have a D300, a good camera of course, but do you plan to "go full frame" sometime?
Matsu: I have a D300S, not a D700.
On the price of a new DX Nikon, I think the company has a bit of room to go up substantially from the D300S level. Firstly, because of the exchange rate issues. Secondly, because the D7000 is much pricier than the D90, so it stands to reason that the next rung up will be pricier too. Thirdly, because Canon sell a really expensive crop-sensor camera in the 1D Mark IV — proving that the market still exists.
I think the 1D Mark IV was a somewhat timid move by Canon, but I do think there's room for a crop-sensor camera priced above $1300 (D300S) but below $4700 (1D Mark IV).
$2000 doesn't strike me as impossible for a Nikon DX model if the camera is suitably impressive. An example of impressive: D300-class or better mechanicals, D7000 sensor or the rumoured 24-megapixel backlit CMOS sensor, 10 frames per second, built-in Wi-Fi, built-in SiRFstarIV, possibly built-in Bluetooth for new remote controls and other accessories. Maybe something radical like an internal 80 GB SSD supporting write speeds over 200 MB/s (will need USB 3.0). These things wouldn't add $700 to the cost of a D300S, but they might allow Nikon to charge $700 more, given the competitive landscape.
Sony's success at selling gimmicks must be scaring Nikon and Canon equally. There's a huge market out there for whom a camera is clearly a black box that magically create photos. The more magic, the better, these people believe. There's no magic coming out of Canon or Nikon.
At the other end of the scale, there's also room for a stripped-down FX camera aimed at the purist photog, much like the 5D but cheaper. I doubt Nikon sees itself as the supplier for that market though — too snobbish by far.
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