There are many "amature" shooters out there who crave a "reasonably" priced high-spec camera. Once upon a time Canon offered these users a Eos 5 / A2 which had all the trappings of a professional camera but built with the consumer (prosumer?) in mind. I suspect that this camera was highly successful for Canon, judging by how many are being offloaded on E-bay, available in KEH and other used stores. Canon's next attempt was the Eos 3, which was more pro than prosumer but still satisfied the prosumer that wanted to control the camera, not the other way around.
Now, what is a reasonable price and a reasonable pro-sumer spec?
The 1DII is now available for less that $4000 (ebay power sellers, B&H charges slightly more). Most amatures that I know aren't into big speed guns, but rather privelige image quality. So, a 11mp 1.3 crop factor camera with a build quality between the 20D and 1DII is not an impossible dream, but rather a question of when. Also, where is Canon going to put all their trial technology for the next re-incarnation of the 1 series? They always test if first on a lower end camera first.
A 1.3 crop factor is VERY desirable to them.. otherwise who will buy the Eos1, when all the features AND full-frame are in the second in line... To put a great sensor into a 1.6 crop just doesn't do it for me and I suspect many other photographers.. 8 MP is quite good, and my limitation now is wide angle, not megapixels. I can print up to A3+ with great image quality... I don't want to print on anything bigger because I don't have a bigger printer, and many others are also making do with A4 or A3... We want wide-angle, a bigger sensor, not (necessarily) more pixels
As for people who think there are too many digital models.. How many film models were available from Canon just last year? 1V, 3, 7, Rebel T series, and the standard Rebel. I count 5 models and pricepoints. Nikon is talking of the same number of models available (or more probably announced!) in 2005. I have just profiled my crystal ball, and it's saying more sooner rather than later, and 1.3 crop is here to stay (for the immediate future).