But seriously, does Giant think it's just a fad? They've got to be the last remaining major bike maker without a 29er.
I haven't been assimilated into the 29er Borg (yet), but I don't see how at this point and time anybody could really think it is a "fad". Will we see 26ers go away, no way. I think 29ers are here to stay too. Besides, not too many things that hang around for 10-15 years, and constantly grow in popularity, are fads...right?
When I ride at MD, it seems almost half our fellow mtb'ers I meet are rollin' on 29 inch wheels. When I was up at KVSP on Saturday, it was no where near half, but there were plenty.
Anyway, it is not unusual for companies to be late to the game on certain concepts. It happens in a lot of industries...there were folks very late to jump into the mini-van and SUV thing too back in the day. One could argue resources, though based on my way-too-many-years in product development, it has more to do with lack of forward thinking and a trying to justify that by saying "we're going to focus on what we're good at while these other companies dilute their focus on XYZ".