FT817 replacement this coming year?

It is rumoured that Yaesu will, at long last, announce a replacement to the FT817 at Dayton this year. Lots of people are awaiting this rig, which is only about 4 years too late!  If I was Yaesu I'd have launched this on the upward slope of the last sunspot peak.  In their infinite wisdom (or plain stupidity?) they have still to announce such a radio. If they are to capitalise on the replacement demand they'd better make sure it has some really nice features and get the price right. I cannot imagine it making it to Europe much before autumn 2016 or even Christmas.

By the time it is available here in Europe we are likely to be suffering with relatively low (and falling) sunspot numbers. If I was Yaesu I'd think about offering 15m, 12m, 10m, 6m and 4m, 2m and 70cms (and possibly 1296MHz) and not offer the lower HF bands at all. In the next 20-30 years the VHF bands will be more important. 15m,12m , 10m, 6m and 4m are all useful for Es especially in the summer months. With just a few watts of SSB one can work much of Europe with just a whip antenna and QRP.