They can be useful. Macro with extreme
dof at reasonable working distances (relative to a
DSLR macro lens) is the reason a number of
DSLR owners in a Panasonic forum I've visited keeps their superzooms to complement their more serious cameras.
There was a rumor about one of these arriving a few weeks back, and also included in the rumor was that it would be weathersealed. If true, that's a very interesting proposition, as I'm sure there are a lot of hikers/bikers/travellers/adventurers in general who like the idea of an all-in-one better than a
DSLR and would place a lot of value on durability, while maybe not being as concerned about getting the highest possible image quality.
Panoguy, I'm pretty sure it's just a compact superzoom. Nothing really special here, just pentax has never made one up until this point. Most of the other brands do.