I think release dates relative to advances in SD technology may also be a factor. Stevies first digital was Nikon 5700 released May 02 and that was CF. Coolpix 995 was also CF.
Announced dates
D100 : CF : Announced Feb 02
D70 : CF : Announced Jan 04
D50 : SD : Announced Apr 05
D70s : CF : Announced Apr 05 as an upgrade of D70
D200 : CF : Announced Nov 05 - D100 replacement
D80 : SD : Announced Aug 06 - D70s replacement
D40 : SD : Announced Nov 06
A quick trawl through for a bit of history shows development of CF card capacities ahead of SD.
2000 / June : IBM announce 512MB and 1GB microdrives ( CF format )
2002 / January : Lexar announce 1GB CF 16x while SanDisk announces 256mb SD card
2003 / March : SanDisk announce 2 & 4GB CF cards & 1GB SD card also the launch of Extreme range up to 1GB in CF and 512MB in SD
2004 / January : SanDisk announce 1GB SD card
2004 / February : Lexar announce 4 & 8GB CF cards
2004 / September : SanDisk announce quadrupling of capacity of Ultra II cards CF now up to 8GB and SD up to 2GB
As for the D70 relacement the D80 going SD I think that allowed the design of a smaller camera body. The D80 being smaller than the D70 or newer D200. From a marketing viewpoint I think D70/70s users were more likely to upgrade to D200 whereas D50 users would opt for the D80. The D40 is a whole new ball game as it only takes AFS lenses.
The D200 as a backup for D2 users would need to retain CF.
Don
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