The demo from NYtimes is really not bad. Every product has its own strong side and weakness. GH1 is still on the good side IMO. Of course, being the pioneer of mirror-less DSLR or bridge camera, it also suffers from being the first imperfect product on the market. But G1 has impressed a lot of people. So it does not need to worry about the future of this product (or the similar)
Let me share some of my information. From the site in amazon.co.jp, pre-ordering for GH1 with 14-140mm kit is about 133,332 yen (local free shipping), which is more or less equal to $1365 USD. The price of NYtimes indeeds quite close and the MSRP is always a little bit higher than the actual street price. Being a "semi - new" product (an upgrade of G1), the price seems higher than our expectation. But the most interesting thing is, if you are not going for HD video and still interested in the 14-140mm lens, it costs about 75,500 yen, which is about $765 USD solely. Now you find the price of a GH1 body is exactly $600 USD. As I remember, a G1 kit from Canada is $599 free shipping. Well, will there be a price drop of G1 in the near future? Let's wait and see.
I am not sure how sensitive is the potential users of GH1. The camera can just support 1920 X1080p @24fps. The frame rate is still not smooth enough if you are going to play the video on the Full HD TV set. However, in HD resolution it can go up to 1280 X 720 @ 60fps, a much faster and competence rate comparing with a serious HD camcorder. In fact, it is really a dilemma as a better next generation product should be coming after a year, said 1920 X 1080 @30 / 60fps. If you're going to use it seriously on video, you have reason to be patient as GH1 may just be a transitional product in the HD video field.
In fact, there is an obvious trend of the added HD video function in DSLR. Canon EOS 500D and Nikon D5000 are the hottest models of hybrid function. The weaknesses comparing with GH1 are slower fps, mono audio and the slow respond of auto focus. But both parties just need time to get close to there competitors. I can tell you, a new set of 500D with Tamron 18-270mm is as low as $1300 USD in Hong Kong. Quite a potential competitor of GH1.
To Range 9:
If you really want to use a Vario-Switar, you should bare in mind that you may need three hands to do a good job of taking video. A normal film shooting needs two people to operate that one is for zooming while another takes care for focusing. And as I know, the chance of cine zoom lens covering the whole sensor is not quite possible. I have one cine lens with 9-90mm made in China that can just cover the sensor from 50 - 90mm. Is it worthwhile to use a lens with just half of the zoom range fully covering the sensor? I doubt it. But it is just my opinion, you can still go with it if you're comfort with this draw back. May the image quality can compensate. Good luck!