Nikon today announced the D800, the 36mp replacement for the 12mp D700. I phrase it that way because this followup does seem a bit odd in the pixel department. We now have the D800 leapfrogging both the D3x and D4 and everything else that's in a DSLR body, and not by a small margin. That has to raise eyebrows.
My full comments are available in a separate article on the D800 announcement, just as I did with the D4.
I've been regularly polling Nikon DSLR users since the D700 came out about what they wanted for a replacement. Half say they wanted an x version (more pixels), the other half want an s version (high ISO capability). Thus, getting an x-on-steroids version is going to definitely rattle quite a few folk.
Given the long lead times on tangible camera updates (not the minor stuff we often see at the low consumer end and in compacts), I suspect Nikon simply picked something that they figured would guarantee that a Canon 5DIII wouldn't top. But I think there's more to it than that, as you'll see in my D800 introduction article.
More later as I get caught up today on all the news (there's a lot going on this week).