Jan,
The price paid for Bushnell is frankly astonishing, as is the $600mm sales volume achieved by the Bushnell operation that year.
Your comment about the Photoscope is entirely correct, Zeiss was quite wrong to shackle the product to 2008 sensor technology when that segment improves by 30-50%/year. Hopefully there will be a Photoscope 2 that is easier to keep current.
The ability of customers to reasonably compare is very low imho, especially at optics fairs. The manufacturers have their stands, the customer can compare lines within the brand, but it is not easy to get four or five different alphas side by side for a leisurely test. An optics shop offers better access, but usually the view is to a city street.
Even so, Jan, you make good points. Clearly me calling this a 'cottage industry' was over the top.