I'm not sure that Olympus do have a lot of options. Any manufacturer producing a 43 sensor for Olympus isn't going to be churning our huge volumes and won't have any other potential customers. That's a lot of cost spread over a relatively limitied production run.
Regarding Panasonic's release strategy I also can't help wondering if deliveries of the NEX-5N had been in full swing right now would the pricing on the GX-1 have been $100 lower?
I think Olympus would probably have to be involved in some kind of long term partnership for a new sensor to work, and of course there's no knowing what the "deal" is between Panasonic and Olympus. For all we know Olympus may have had the choice of what size sensor to use, and chose to stick with the "tried and tested one"
You may well be right about the Panasonic pricing, but then Panasonic aren't cheap anyway. In this short term period Panasonic may benefit from Sonys misfortune, though long term it will probably even out. I would be very surprised if the GX1 isn't a successful camera for Panasonic. It will get lots of attention, just because of its looks, and because of the popularity of the GF1. I hope that it does really well, and it gives Panasonic the incentive to go with a similar line in the future.
I've written constantly about my feeling that they need to keep the "enthusiast/hobbyist/serious/pro/aspiring pro" photographer lobby on board, for reasons of more money to spend on cameras, ownership of more cameras, more liable to upgrade sooner, make more noise on the forums etc. etc. And also to realise that design and look is important. I'm honest enough to admit that the look of the thing is one of the reasons I'm planning to get one. In a market where cameras are really pretty similar in terms of output, things like handling, look and feel become ever more important and the current Panasonic "functional" look probably doesn't create a hell of lot of "camera envy".
In terms of selling cameras (or anything really) I'm convinced this is important, and its something I think Panasonic have to a large extent ignored. Would the X100 have got anywhere near the attention it got if it didn't look like it does? This retro lookalike fashion may well be short-lived, though I suspect there is a lot more mileage in it yet, but its nice to see Panasonic giving it a go. Even Sony with the NEX-7, have gone towards that almost brutal industrial look, which has proved so successful for Leica.
Its encouraging as I was beginning to despair that they were just going to concentrate on miniature gadgetry. No its not everything I and lots of others may want in an ideal world, but it'll certainly do to be getting on with. One thing is for sure, it will take a fine picture. Every other m4/3 Panasonic camera has done that so far and I'm sure this won't be any different.