Nikon's D7000 (which looks impressive) was released today and is the 148th Digital Camera released this year. Of those only two are under 10MP, they are 9MP each. The speed and quality of this technology still amazes me. At the Kentucky Derby in 1993 I stood next to AP's photographer who had a digital camera which was linked by a cord to a processor the size of an old VCR. In 1999, Kodak's 1MB camera weighed a ton and cost $24K. I would guess the average consumer camera today is around $275.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/timeline.asp

http://dpreview.com/previews/nikond7000/