Marc,
But as you know, Canon doesn't want to irritate its users now and they simply use current lineup of lenses with smaller sensors. Sales don't seem to hurt that much.
And by the way, Kodak 14n was probably a runaway success in the PR plans of Kodak guys. But here is a newsflash - Kodak have pissed a lot of professional photographers in last 5-6 years. For that reason, a lot of people would be cautious in spending any money for Kodak digital SLR. And technically speaking, most DSLR users don't really use wide-angle lenses, so 1.3 to1.6 focal length multiplication factor is acceptable for most. Which is why Canon has more models with smaller sensors and only one with 24x36mm sensor (that and the fact that in their case making 24x36mm is difficult).
And, Contax N1 digital was such a remarkable flop also because they repeated somebody else's mistake. Pentax have been playing around with idea of making full-frame, 24x36mm digital SLR based on Philips chip. Quickly enough they realized it's not going to work exactly the way they envision it and pulled the plug on it. Kyocera decided to play a Big Guy and failed. (by the way, when it comes to CCDs/CMOSs, full-frame is not equal to 24x36mm! It's a totally different thing, has nothing to do with size).
Dirk,
Valid points. If Kyocera wants to keep our business, they better speak up.
Taylor,
yes it should develop better relations with their customer base. BUT, do they listen to what you and I think? I doubt it. Because if they had listened to users, we would already have few new lenses in manual focus MM mount and at least one new camera in manual focus line, such as next generation RTS for ex&le.
Lynn,
That's a valid point too and that's why not everyone uses Contax
Mike.