Nice read (you lucky stiff!). Thanks for posting!
But while you're mostly spot on in regards to the target market (certainly not folks who lurk these forums) here's who I think the audience is for this $3200 Leitzbox:
Like the X2* and previously the X1*--people who simply want Leica bragging rights. Pure and simple. And, following Sony's RX1 playbook, people who don't mind paying extra for an EVF or a lens hood that isn't included in its initial Everestian price.
The M, however, is in a league all its own and will remain so. Because with that wonderful piece of engineering you have a unique design proposition with access to, bar-none, the finest photo glass extant. So much so that people willingly put up their offspring on Ebay for it. (Although thanks to some of the latest camera designs adapters have created a whole new legion of 'poor man's Leicas").
Sorry, the zoom, no matter how sharp from center-to-corner it is or CA-free or vignetting controlled is embarrassingly slow for a camera this dear. (Let's be honest here...f3.5 may be 2/3 slower than an f2.8 but it is 1 2/3 slower than Sony's FF f2--albeit non-zooming--Zeiss that comes in $400 less!) Today Leitz isn't the last word in zoom optics as they are with M primes. In the compact camera arena names like Fuji, Panasonic (who no doubt picked a thing or two on lens design from Leica) and Olympus arguably have equal if not better offerings with their cams. (I'd be curious to see how a $1200 f2.8 18-55mm zoom-clad Fuji X-E1 with its AA-filter less 16 Mp X-trans sensor fares against the X Vario.)
FORTUNATELY from the inittial results posted it looks like noise control as high as ISO 6400 could help compensate for the slowness of optic. The BW shots look extremely promising. Let's hope color is good too.
And as far as the D2 comparison? Where does this come from? To paraphrase the late U.S. Sen. Lloyd Bentson during the 1988 Vice Presidential debate (or whooping) with Dan Quayle...I know the D2. The D2 was a friend of mine. The X Vario is no D2. The D2 had a built in EVF (albeit a crappy one) and an f2 SUMMICRON (although IQ-wise X Vario's zoom may be better). And a HOOD!!! Big difference IMHO. (The 16 Mp APS-C sensor, however,
is a nice improvement, though.
)
On a good note, from your description I do like that it appears to be very well made and that the hallmark, Leica DNA that insists on control simplicity is evident throughout. And I'm sure, speed-wise, X Vario will more than meet the photographic needs of the vast majority of picture takers who take it out on nice sunny days. (Most people simply aren't sent off to cover Wimbledon or the French Open for Sports Illustrated, right?)
So I've no doubt that people who do purchase this new camera will enjoy it.
Because at $3200 they'll have every incentive to.
*Both great cams. Just a similarly debatable capability vs price equation.