Kurt,
I agree with your assessment. From a strategic perspective, the MF companies need to be thinking more about growing their entire market, not just competing with each other to be the present market leader. If the entire pie gets bigger, there is more to go around ;-)
Offering "entry level" gear at affordable prices is a great way to get folks using MF systems to start. The more backs they can sell, the more the R&D costs for new sensor development can be amortized across a larger number of units. Volume is the key. So rather than trying to "steal" market share from each other, the more successful strategy is to grow the entire market, as that translates into greater volumes for all players. The market leader thing gets sorted out by lots of things....total units sold or being used, customer service, new offerings, etc. Some may be more important than others, but in the end, the more backs/sensors they sell, the cheaper the costs for those sensors and the more money available to develop new things. Getting folks excited about an entire spectrum of gear offerings should be good business for all, but only if the new offerings can be seen to "fit" into what folks want and are willing to afford. My hope is that more folks get into MF to increase those sales and create more offerings and at more reasonable prices.
LJ