Louis,
Interesting thoughts. I do agree with you that Canon and Nikon are playing it too safe. Canon was really innovative in the early digital era as they had to play catch-up with Nikon, Sony, and Fuji. But since becoming well established in the DSLR market, they've gotten a bit boring. Nikon sells hundreds of point and shooters for every one of their DSLRs, but are known primarily as a DSLR company.
But the bokeh crowd loves 4/3rds mirrorless cameras and have done remarkable things with them (they've also caused the price of M42 lenses to increase. ) I'm seeing some very artistic and creative photos from the mirrorless users.
Panasonic's Lumix G5 and G6 cameras are built to hold the types of lenses that people are putting on these cameras - Takumar 135s, etc. I was shown a Sony NEX3 with a 70s era Vivitar 200mm lens mounted on it. I was afraid to pick it up. I thought that the weight of the lens would break the mount.
I think Panasonic and Olympus will survive. As mentioned above, Pentax has its first post-Ricoh hit with its WG series adventure cameras. How about a m4/3 sensor adventure camera with GPS, LEDs, survival guide, and solar charging? The niche is there.