Well, it was just announced … kind of. They leaked it in their own pro magazine. Nikon will be releasing the D3x. Not much of an upgrade from the D3, except twice the pixels and a smaller ISO range (50 – 6400, instead of 100-25,600). Let the pixel wars continue.
What I’d like to see is a new camera with about 3+ more stops of dynamic range! Now that would be cool! No idea on what the price of this beast will be, nor any idea when it will be shipped. I’m sure that there is some constraint of physics that they haven’t figured out just yet, but I’m sure that they are working on it.
Well, I guess that means that there is a D900 (a slightly stripped down version of the D3x), or whatever, on the horizon. The price of the D3 and D700 will start to slide, and the buying public will clamber for it. At least I was glad to see that they didn’t put any silliness in it, like HD video! 
Looks like the estimated street price might be about $7,500 USD! Ouch!
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Our recent discussion about this being in the works was right on target.
@Earl: Yep. I’m not surprised by the announcement, nor am I surprised by the lack of new features. I am, however, a bit surprised by the lesser ability of the D3x. Looking at the specs, it looks like they actually took a D2x, upgraded the sensor, and came up with the D3x. Specifically, the lower frame rate and reduced ISO range. The ‘new’ camera can only shoot 5 fps in normal mode and 7 fps in DX mode. Interesting.
We were right about the timing, too. Right before Christmas.
@Paul: The 5 fps doesn’t surprise me from a technical view in that they are having to move and store twice the amount of data for each shot. It does have a slightly faster processor but that’s still lots of data to process. The one nice thing a 24MP sensor is that when shooting in DX mode you’d still be getting a 11-12 mega-pixel image.
The lower ISO limits is bad news but then there’s always the next model…
@Earl: Can you say D2xs? I mean, D3Xs!
The price of the D3 and D700 will start to slide…
We can only hope. The D3x and possible D900 with their dense Sony sensor are of no interest to me, and the D700 is the camera I lust for.
I don’t think the D3 will move in price. It’s a PJ/sports camera built for speed and high ISO. Why should the price move?
The new Nikon is a studio/fine arts machine. As such a different set of goals from the D3. They are complementary cameras ala the two top of the line Canons. Maybe the D700 will move but the pressure there will come from the new Canon 5D. As of today, on B&H the D700 is still 2700 after a rebate. The D300 is 1486.