Leica Digilux 3 was sold for $1995 when it first debut with interchangeable 4/3rds lenses. The X1 has fixed lens 35mm f2.8 Summarit and it's $2000 ???
Well...The lens isn't a 35mm f/2.8 Summarit. (BTW...Are
any Summarits f/2.8?)
And another way to look at this "comparison" is that the Digilux 3 didn't have any lens at that price. Your opening statement needs to be slightly restated along the lines of "...first debut
without interchangeable 4/3rds lenses."
I'm not outraged, nor surprised, at the likely price of the X1. Neither am I surprised about the price of red dot Panasonics. The X1 is an interesting, intriguing concept. In some ways it goes back to a time when a lot of people bought a camera with a fixed lens, took a lot of pictures in a lot of places around the world, and didn't think they were shortchanged at all.
The FOV of the X1 represents (IMHO) the best choice for a fixed focal length camera. My feeling is that a
photographer should be able to take a camera with that FOV out for a day and come back with a bunch of darn good photos.
Some folks don't "get" the X1 -- for whatever excuse they decide to use: Lens too slow; no zoom; no interchangeable lenses; no optical viewfinder; no electronic viewfinder, no mechanical rangefinder; no electronic rangefinder; no filter threads; no accessory lens hood; no circumferential aperture control; no built-in hand sanitizer dispenser, etc. Some folks even puff themselves up and call these deficiencies "deal breakers".
The X1 is what it is. If you don't "get" the X1 concept, you obviously aren't a target customer. No big deal.
Leica is taking a risk, and they are hoping that they read the market correctly. I hope they succeed. And if the X1 does well enough, we might see an X2 and X3.
Remember the Cosina/Voigtlander Bessa L? A "rangefinder" camera without a rangefinder. It got me back into RF -- along with thousands of other photographers. That simple LTM body led me though a series of nice Bessa bodies, eventually a pair of M6s, and now an M8 (and still one M6). How can one look at the X1 chassis and
not see the potential for development and expansion?