Pentax obviously must have done some market research before embarking on their first prosumer bridge camera. Given the world economy in crisis that will take years to unravel, and the fact that many Pentax users are budget conscious (read penny pinching and cheap), this might be the ideal camera in terms of marketing demographics.
Pentax users must see this camera for what it is.
Pentax is throwing down the gauntlet for Pentax users to come up with interesting photographic images with a camera that has an economy of features that's bereft of the excessive bells and whistles we have all come to expect. To me that's an interesting and purist interpretation of the "Be Interesting" slogan. It's not what the camera can do for you but what you can do with the camera. What's the point of having a camera with the best features if one can't shoot for nuts?
With the X70, you got a camera that's enough to get by, much like the MX/K1000 in the days of film.
Anyway I reserve judgment on the X70 until a full and formal review but on-paper spec of 11 frames per second in nothing to pooh, pooh about.