jjs wrote:

Can we clarify a bit? I think Bob was speaking of the broad width of the
top of the bell curve, which is by definition the very largest part of the
whole (the market share), so "pars pro toto" doesn't apply. (Am I correct,
Bob?) Bell curve in this case being all picture makers. [...]

We're talking about (see subject line) not about "all picture makers" but
about that small niche occupied by MF users.
What Bob has put forward s very ineresting, but is not (!) about the MF
market. It can not be taken to be indicative of what will happen in the MF
market either. Transferring the trends in 2 MP cell phone camera market to
MF is rather pointless.

We're not talking about the entire bell-curve (i don't think that metaphor
applies, by the way), only about a rather independent, very small part
somewhere at the toe of one of its slopes.

So assuming that particular part of the market is indicative for what will
happen in all nooks and crannies of the entire photography field is indeed
displaying symptoms of the "pars pro toto"-syndrome. ;-)