XQD card dead on arrival?

Is the XQD card dead on arrival? Last year this new memory card was introduced as the new super fast standard for memory cards for professional cameras. Nikon introduced the first -and still only- camera with an XQD card slot, the Nikon D4. Many people criticized Canon for not doing the same in the EOS-1D X. And Sony introduced the first XQD cards. The future seemed bright for XQD as ‘the new CompactFlash’. Today, that future looks very different and possibly quite bleak. Sony introduced their new flagship A99 without a XQD slot, and Sandisk announced at Photokina that they will not produce XQD cards. Instead, Sandisk will support the CFast 2.0 standard. CFast has been around for quite some time, but it never managed to become the new CompactFlash standard, even though it was supported by the CompactFlash Association. CFast 2.0 may be a different story now, and the announcement of Sandisk seems to confirm that. Sandisk won’t do this if they don’t know if camera manufacturers will support the CFast 2.0 standard.