I can appreciate that most potential 5D MkIII candidates find the new price of $3,500 (or £2,999 = $4,700 in the UK) a major setback and of course a huge disappointment. Another thread on CR illustrates that the new 5D3 price is similar to that of the 5D2 when it was announced back on 17 September 2008, in terms of Japanese Yen - which is the 100% consideration for Canon Inc.
Notwithstanding this comparatively high price in USD, AUD, GBP, EUR etc., I truly believe that the new prices by the end of this summer will have fallen back below $3k (or £2.5k), the logic being very simple: the gap between the new 5D is just too big between it and the old 5D which it replaces, as well as the gap between the 5D3 and 7D.
By way of illustration, I bought my new 7D last September for £939 online. I shoot a lot of video and I'd love to do so with a FF body, but here's the acid test: I could buy 3 x 7D's or 2 x 5D MkII's for the price of 1 x 5D MkIII
Shooting HD video with multiple cameras for a videographer is as important as ISO, DR, NR are for a stills photographer. Now before the purists go off on one, just look at the 22.3MP sensor -> HD video driven resolution on the new 5D Mk III, headphone socket?? separate/manual audio controls in Live View??
A lot of videographers made the 5D Mk II the go-to HD DSLR, plus where would T2i/T3i sales be without 1080p HD recording at selectable rates. The question is will they all want to trade up to the newer more expensive model? Canon is keeping the 5D Mk II for now, presumably at a new soon-to-be reduced RRP of probably $1,999 or less, that is they'll have to discount the current recommended price by about 500 bucks. That will likely entice a lot of current 7D users (who shoot both stills + video) to want to buy an entry-level FF body.
I think Canon are constrained, firstly, by the Yen 300,000 domestic selling price, but secondly, they really don't know where the effective demand is from a price point, so they go high, keep the old model and see what happens. After all, they're not going to be able to satisfy all new demand for the first 3 months anyway (pre-orders, early-adopters etc.), so they can afford to be a bit pricey-now.
Bottom line: unless you really need a new 5D Mk III, wait 6 months and prices may be a lot cheaper (say $2,999)