Nikon: any news on the 24x36 digital frame?

Nikon's missing production of prime lenses for the DX format makes me suspect it is just a provisional format to be sooner or later replaced by a full frame format covering the whole 35mm frame. Given myself am also planning sooner or later to purchase a higher end replacemente for my current D50 camera, I would like to know if anyone is aware of some news and if this is the way Nikon is running and, in that case, what is the pace at which it is trodden.

Thanks to both first time answerers. Of course the problem is right that: one would rather be out of the shoes of a D40 camera to be replaced just a few months after by a more powerful model at the same price. Still what I was more worried about was the lenses: should I plan my set for the 35 mm or the DX formats? For example has any sense purchasing a 24mm in order to take advantage of it when the FF comes our or one is just doomed to be stuck to the equivalent of a poorly priced 36 mm in DX? Same but much worse is the situation if one wants to have a 24mm in DX and has to purchase a very expensive and heavy fisheye 16 mm or a 12-16 Zoom DX but that would work poorly in an eventual FF format.

Here's an interesting article by Thom Hogan:

http://www.bythom.com/roadmap.htm

The original's about a year old, but it's been revised a couple of time since.

My guess is that Nikon will probably have a FF DSLR on the market within a year or two. The question is, do you want to wait or do you want to go ahead and upgrade to say a D200 now?

Yes, Mr. Spock, it seems logical to think that.

Nikon has been working on their alternative to the CCD/CMOS sensor for a long time.

Their first production version of the new sensor type was in the D2h. The goal was to produce a sensor that was faster, had lower power consumption and minimal dark noise. The result was the JFET LBCAST sensor.

My guess is that Nikon will be introducing this new sensor (or a variation on it) in the 3-series cameras when they appear sometime in the next few years. What we may see then is something called a D3f that sports a full 24x36mm sensor ... or not. Time will tell.