After digesting the announcement, making up my mind in the last fews days and reading this thread i felt to share my thoughts [which might turn out BS].
Canon merging the 1D/s line tells me that the sports/journalist/videographers 1D line is where Canon sees the major sales, and needed to announce the 1Dx for the Olympics in time [beating Nikon with an annoucement to tell the photography world that Canon still is king of the road].
With a FF sensor, 12fps and great high ISO all three segments are well served, and if you need more reach, either buy longer lenses or crop, Canon seems to think.
Maybe a Canon 1DX MKII will offer an in-camera crop factor [see Nikon] when the sensor again reaches more MP in its next iteration.
[Right now, to offer a crop of lets say 15MP is not that exiting, but i think they should have done it, anyway].
After the 5DMKII cannibalized the 1Ds sales the percentage of 1D to 1Ds went even more south. Same image quality, more features - pros also have to look after their $.
Having two flagship cameras no more made sense to Canon.
The death of the 1Ds lineup was planned years ago, when the 5DMKII was on its way to market. Units were built on demand, times with no stock levels showed that Canon kept it very low...
The 5DMKIII [or a 3D, who knows] will take the place of the 1Ds as a high-res sensor camera.
To think that Canon stopped the pixel race, is wrong imho.
This new camera with a more rugged body - the competition offers better sealed, rugged bodies at that price range as of now - but no included grip, will be a great tool for landscape shooters, and users looking for a more lightweight option.
Increase the prize of the MKIII and justify it by giving users a better AF and rugged body [Canon seams to increase their prices continuously for lenses due to higher costs, margins].
5DMKIII for $3499-3799, lets say?
Also possible is making the 5DMIII the new videographer focused camera [the 5dMKII started the craze] and a new line, 3D, going 30+ MP...
This product line transition will show its face with the next camera announced [sooner than later], to think Canon has nothing else planned with their lineup, is wrong imho.
Feedback welcome.