In my humble opinion Canon is doing well in terms of corporate strategy and execution. Lowering prices is often bad for business (would it be any good for yours?), so Canon trying to stick to a higher initial sales price, which is not even higher once you calculate currency effects, is just good business sense. Corporations want to earn money, not to give away new goods for less, which in my opinion would be sign of really bad business sense. Of course the trick is to set the right price for the market. If the pricing would be off, we can expect price corrections to increase sales volume, just to keep those factories occupied and to avoid stockpiling goods in warehouses, which does have a cost attached.
So for all of those who complain about $500 more or less in a camera's price, why don't you just wait? If many do feel like you, the price of the camera body will indeed come down to what you want. You only need some patience. If on the other hand there are so many people buying the camera for the initial asking price, that you are simply not part of the initial buyers group, you can still wait for eventual availability of a used camera or you can just save your money until you have sufficient funds. I don't think these are bad options. I myself am currently waiting, wondering if the price will come down. It doesn't make me question Canon's ability to perform business.
Regarding the 1Dx I believe Canon just wants to avoid errors, so they delay the launch until they feel they are ready.
