A new camera in 2013, what will it be?

Yes Tom, I share some of your sentiment.

I am sure that Ricoh is quite aware of the "wish lists" on the internet. They have been given feedback and I am sure some has trickled down to R&D and some has been written off at an early stage.

I do think that they are aware that they need to keep up with the competition and even as a niche compact camera producer they need to offer something extra even to appeal to the core fans.

I think we might be seeing one or more of the following:

A compact. A wide angle one. A fairly large sensor. Perhaps not full frame (that would be a nice surprise though) but maybe around APS-C. Perhaps a fairly fast 28mm or a 2.8 21mm. Both would appeal to me if based on the 16MP Sony sensor.

A B&W specialty camera. B&W sensor. Fixed lens? 35-45mm? A16 M mount for GXR? No AA filter.

A large-ish sensor zoom compact. 1" sensor. 24-85mm and not very fast lens. Probably great handling and some sort of IS and one of those cameras where you will go, meeeh, I wish it was/had this or that instead. But still probably a great buy with Ricoh handling and Menu system.

A full frame mount for Pentax K in a revamped GXR body, perhaps with exchangeable mount and M lens compatible. Perhaps with backwards compatibility with the existing modules? It can be done. But did they actually pull that off? If so, hats off...

A GXR II would be sweet, but I ain't holding my breath. I would honestly be happy with upgrading my kit (A12 28 and 50 and A12 M mount) to A16 equivalents on a faster handling GXRII camera with a slightly better EVF and tilt rear screen. I would be set for years and years to come.

Only thing I am sure of is that I am not so sure of what to expect at all. Probably a niche camera that I will really like and a niche camera that is probably not for me at all. And maybe something in between.

Even if the Ricoh rep was vague he seemed confident and did use quite strong words for what to expect. I can wait until spring and see what cometh and if it isn't what I want there are alternatives and by that time perhaps even more of them. Ditching Ricoh altogether is a bit premature for me personally. They still do what they are supposed to do and finding another compromise is not appealing to me at this stage.