I agree Heartyfisher, I've seen D40's survive everything, except a fall (required repair). I haven't tested my D90 the way I did my F3s and I doubt it would be as robust, but considering it's electronic nature, vs the old mechanical, that would be expected. I wouldn't expect an iPhone to be as robust as the old Bell dial phones.
The more I look at things, the more it looks like there is plenty of room for Nikon and Canon at the top of the heap. I wouldn't be surprised to see Sony pour money into DSLRs for years before seeing their inability to garner the cache that both Nikon and Canon have attained and exit the market. Beta was a long time ago, but Sony won the tech war and lost the market. You cannot doubt that Nikon will stay in the camera business. You cannot doubt that Canon will stay in the camera business. Sony, I'd have doubts, especially if I had to invest significant cash.
I picked a technically better performing rangefinder camera in the late 90's - the Contax G2. A modern alternative to the Leica M6. It had auto everything, but all were over-ride-able, a modern ergonomic design, jewel-like lenses of remarkable quality. I have multiple bodies and a full suite of lenses awaiting a rebirth of film?
If instead of buying Contax, I'd bought an M6 and 3 lenses, I'd now be eagerly awaiting the M9. My Leica lenses would have more than doubled in price. I'd be looking at a body only - not cheap, but I wouldn't now be paying $11,000 for 28/2, 50/1.4 and 90/2, I'd have paid about 6K for them.
