Is Sony giving Canon and Nikon a run for their money?

Popular Photography's 2011 camera of the year is the Nex-7 and the article says that its closest competition among the runners up was the a77. Last year the top spot went to the a55.It seems IMO that Sony is really coming out with innovations and listening to what consumers want, plus they are focusing more on the consumer and pro-sumer models which is where the biggest market is right now and which will continue to grow as digital camera prices drop.

Canon and Nikon aren't subjugating themselves to some of the nonsensical gimmicks that sony is implementing into their cameras.

What are consumers? Pros use Canon and Nikon for their great build quality, reliability, and excellent performance.

Hasselblad, even, doesn't have these gimmicks. They still are photography only. But they make masterpiece cameras.

popular photography is just that, towards the populous, or the average consumer, not to the pros.

The Nex-7 is pretty cool.
And on the non-DSLR side, Sony will probably gain a lot of share.
But on the DSLR side, they've got a long way to go…

Competition is good, it makes everybody work harder to make good products.

Whiz & Bang don't beat Dependable & Professional.

As many features as Sony has, I still don't see ANY Sony DSLR's on the sidelines of the NCAA, MiLB, WNBA, NBA, or ATC Tennis events i cover. These photographers depend on their equipment for their livelihood.

And, you can't ignore the statistics here.
http://www.jdpower.com/news/pressRelease.aspx?ID=2011105

Dansy, until Sony over take (or take over) Nikon (at the current rate of market share growth that will be in around 6 to 7 years!) you'll never convince people. You will convince them when you use your DSLT to shoot flawless video, or just get the High Speed Sync to work flawlessly off camera with nothing other than the camera and flash unit.

Regards Sony making inroads into non-DSLR cameras, they already account for almost 90% of the sensors used in such cameras (most Nikon's and even some Canon's). *This figure may include the sensor units in mobile phones.

There's a lot more cross-fertilization of ideas among the manufacturers than the users often think. One of Sony's new sensors relies on cross patenting with Fujifilm, Sigma, and Kodak.

*I fully expect to get slated for this reply
** I'm a trained technologist, and now that Sony has a decent range of lenses for their crop sensor cameras I honestly think they are a better starting point than Canon and Nikon. I will admit if Sony want to be take seriously for full frame cameras they really need to work on the lens range for that segment.