yeah, we all know that better and cheaper is inevitable.
But not always at the pace we've seen lately. It took years of JVC getting beat up here for not really advancing their D-ILA line before they finally dropped the RS1 in 06. This pj looks like it is going to have tounges wagging for quite a while, and would it surprise anyone if they decided to rest on well deserved laurels after this?
Can Sony continue to keep pumping out 1080p technology at 1/2 last years msrp, without seriously degrading specs or performance at some point?

When do you think this chase is going to start to level off and companies start to take longer breathers before the next huge advance, or do you think major improvments and price points will continue to hit with this same pace?

Well speculating on the pace is dicey, but there are market niches not being filled as yet (e.g. bright affordable 1080p), and there are technical advances yet to come (e.g. alternative light sources). So I don't think we're at a point where projectors become a commodity and the market winners do the same things as everyone else but a bit better and/or cheaper. Still, having the Ruby, Pearl, and RS-1 all hit the market over a comparatively short stretch of time was surprising. Now if we could have a similar jump on the DLP side (and please someone do it with a real 1500-2000 lumens at D6500), wouldn't that be something?