Is Nikon happy to be 2nd to Canon?

This is only a petty point, but the evidence more suggests the 70-200 f4 was only destined to be another patent Nikon filed speculatively to allow them to react to the market. Their announcement to actually market it only came soon after the third party Tokina announced their own Nikon-compatible version. Nikon did make a 70-210 f4 they discontinued way back but never decided to ape Canon all those years it had the 70-200 f4 L up to now.