One of the blogs I follow, NikonRumors, tracks Nikon's patent filings, from which it's clear that Nikon is spending a lot of time thinking about EVIL cameras. They're otherwise doing an excellent job of keeping their future product plans quite secret.

I do agree that the mirrorless compact camera market seems likely to consume the low-end SLR market, both from a cost savings perspective (no mirror, no pentaprism, etc.) but more importantly from a UI perspective. To a consumer "stepping up" from a compact point-and-shoot or a smartphone camera (sigh), it's completely natural to use the rear-camera display as your viewfinder, and why would you want to stare through a silly little hole?

What I find really intriguing is that, for once, Canon and Nikon are behind while serious momentum is developing behind the Micro 4/3 standard. Yes, both Sony and Samsung have concluded that they must (must!) introduce their own EVIL lens standards, but perhaps Canon or Nikon will surprise us by supporting the Micro 4/3 standard. If either one jumped on board, that would be a remarkable turn of events and could lead to a true, honest, industry-wide standard.

On the flip side, the APS-C sensors used in current Nikon and Canon low-end cameras would be logical to carry forward into their EVIL cameras, reusing parts and expertise, versus the smaller Micro 4/3 sensor which is a totally new thing.