Remember the good ol days when there were dozens and dozens of component companies along with hundreds and hundreds of component suppliers. Now we have a small handful of them. Likewise we've seen OEM's go away or consolidate. Intereat and particiption in the game is in decline and has been since 2002- I recently read a 30% drop in participation since 2002 in NA and a similar decline but started in mid 90's in golf crazy Japan. The decline is stabilizing now.
In terms of equipment, outside of SL , there has been nothing novel or exciting. Whats old is new and gets recycled. Antiquated terms like MOI are still being thrown around in advertising. Components had the advantage of being innexpensive, yes some were cheap and poorer quality but the better lines like GS, GW, Wishon etc were always as good in terms if quality as the OEM's. The pricing on quality components is no Longer reasonable, resale opportunities are essentially nothing. In the old days you could flip anything and quickly and get a bit if a return on yiur investment. OEM prices have also gone way up but buy 2 years or more after release and you save tons and can usually flip things quickly and with minimal loss. Ie bought my Ping i20's ( 4- gw) for $350 3 seasons ago and just sold them for $300. Picked up some i5's (4-pw) for $125.
I'm guessing we continue to see a decline in the component market and more OEM consolidation. Pricing will likely continue to rise. The strong companies with excellent customer service will stick around. Doubt we will ever see the hay days again.