Nikon today announced eight "new" Coolpix cameras. At the top of the heap is the P7000 replacement, the P7100: basically same sensor lens and body style, but the LCD goes tiltable, there's now an ND filter, plus one interesting wrinkle, which is a 9-zone histogram/highlights display. I guess Ansel's estate wouldn't let them have the 10th zone. US$499 in black only.
The new Coolpix line is the AW (probably for all weather), and this waterproof and rugged line kicks off with the AW100, which features Sony's 16mp BSI sensor and a 5x Nikkor zoom (28-140mm). The 10m waterproof certification doesn't even make it to PADI certification depths, and there's no raw unfortunately. You can shake the camera to change settings, though (really). A GPS with compass and map display is built in, apparently so the camera can find its way home after you drop it in the river. US$379 in white, camo (to make it easier to lose), blue, black, and not-quite-Nikonos orange.
From there it all goes remarkably downhill. The S1200pj now connects to an iPhone or iPad (apparently Nikon thinks we want to buy a camera/projector for our Apple devices instead of just a decent projector). This third attempt to establish the projector camera is likely to fail just as bad as the first two. Comes in non-iPad pink, and black. Rounding out the disappointments are the 16mp S8200, S6200, and S100 models.
What's up with Nikon's naming scheme? Did someone forget the odd/even protocols? It appears that Coolpix do and don't follow the convention of odd/even based upon pro generation. Some seem to (P7100 comes in D3 generation and is all odd numbers), some don't (S8200 comes in D3 generation and is all even numbers).
FWIW, that's 16 Coolpix this year. This continues to feel like churn and burn to me. Look for ubiquitous Instant Rebates on Coolpii, because that's the only way Nikon is going to move more than 15 million Coolpix this year and 20 million in two years (their stated goal).