D600's significant price drop and Nikon's FF policy...

If Nikon was afraid the D600 would "cannibalize" D800 sales, it should have waited a while longer (+6 months) to release it. At any price substantially lower than the D800's, the D600 was bound to attract those for whom the D800 is "too much camera." -- which is a lot of folks, including some who jumped on the D800 when there was no other new and "affordable" FX alternative (AKA "D700 replacement").

Whatever the reason for the initial D600 MSRP, it wasn't to safeguard D800 sales.

Thom Hogan seems to think the drop in D600 price results from a low demand vs. supply situation (as you also suggest), and that being a time tested principle, I'm prone to agree. It's also possible that Nikon intended all along to price the D600 south of $2K USD, and the initial markup was an effort to glean the exhuberant early adopter dollars.

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