[Scythels]

Well, most of the photographic superzooms are nowhere near diffraction limited.  They can't be becase their pricepoint doesn't really acommodate extensive R&D (the superzoom designs I saw a presentation for took half a year collaborating with one of the best lens designers out there) to get to that performance level, and at the end of the day cheaper usually is better for them.  If you doubled the price to $1,000+ they would be able to accomidate the mechanical complexity to make a very solid performer all around.  In general the profit margin can handle a bit of a squeeze in favor of better quality at a lower price without dropping anything re: QC from canon, nikon, zeiss, leica, schneider, etc.  The production cost for a 70-200/2.8 L II is in the ballpark of $400 for the bulk of the lenses, $100 for the fluorite elements (add a bit for the ones that break in manufacturing), possibly $150-$200 (not my area of specialty) for assembly and mechanical parts... basically it comes in way way below the asking price even with a margin for distributor and manufacture. 

 

Not that much at all is wrong with the 70-200L II, it's got nearly diffraction limited performance everywhere and is great mechanically as well, but it could be sold for $1500 comfortably after a few more years to finish recouperating R&D.