Don't know if anyone here monitors the rumour sites?
Recently been some rumblings about the long awaited Nikon 80-400mm update possibly coming next year, but with a twist that it might actually be replaced or complemented by a 100-500mm f4-5.6 VR with AF-S, rather than just a rehash of the 80-400mm.
More detail
here, if anyones remotely interested...