This entire scenario will make a great business school teaching case at some point, regardless of the outcome. Personally, like Tim and others have mentioned, I sort of feel relieved to take the S2 system off my radar at this point. I am sure there are some sighs of relief (plus muffled or outright laughter) at Phase, Hasselblad, Nikon, Canon and even Sony right now, knowing that Leica may have taken itself out of the competition. Will be interesting to see what they learn and bring to the market from all of this.
As Marc comments, once (if) the S2 gets into the hands of some superstar shooter (still not sure who that may be), it may draw a few more wannabes to the fold, but the pricing is surely going to remain a question, even for those with the money. Let's see what the real output from a fully-tuned production camera looks like to see if the S2 will even be worth dreaming about. (Also, let's see just how many rental houses will carry this kit for folks to test out or use on those rare high-dollar assignments.) My bet is that the other companies mentioned are already getting there with new glass and maybe sensors, or will get there shortly and offer something for a lot more justifiable price compared to Leica. Even if the lenses turn out to be stellar, it is not clear that many (any) folks will be that blown away to make the plunge. As has been mentioned by a number of folks, a tech camera and back will hold its own for landscape and maybe even product shooting, and the high end 35mm DSLRs, plus Hassies are holding their own for studio/fashion shooting. Where does that really leave this overpriced S2? Right, in the backseat of that Ferrari, on the deck of the yacht, in a "collector case" and maybe in a few "superstar" studios, but mostly NOT in the bag of serious photographers that may be trying to earn a living.
Hey, there is always some hope that the outrage at Leica's nearly obscene pricing will get them to reconsider......they did make a number of concessions with the M8 after its series of problems ;-) In the meantime, go pull out your present gear, polish it up a bit, and go have some fun shooting with it now that your lust for the S2 has been crushed.....like mine.
LJ