Shimano is rolling out a new'n'improved version of their alfine speed hub. Lighter, sleeker, faster etc. (http://road.cc/content/news/13981-shimano-alfine-11-speed-hub-car-park-test)
 
It's a bout 70-80% of the gear range of typical 27 spd and at estimated retail of 420$ it's comparably priced w/top line drive train it replaces.  IGH systems are typically most used today by commercial type bikers where the long term reliability win pays dividends. In the MTB community there are some fans but many remain skeptical because hub gears traditionally give a small efficiency hit.  There are also other issues with older systems like requiring proprietary cabling or grip shifts. The new shimano one uses rapid fire shifters which are quite nice in my opinion (even the dinky ones I have on my mongoose).  The main IGH complaint is weight but the new shimano stuff looks pretty light even if you have to add a chain tensioner.
 
It looks to me like engineering efforts are starting to make IGH systems better and better compared to traditional 27 spd setup.  Some of you guys are bike mechanics...what do you think...are we looking at a new age in cycling?
 

Well that thing wouldn't give near enough teeth to store all the stuff I pick up on the trail.

the hammerschmidt is the 2 speed crank ive been checkin on..
its somewhere around $700 msrp

dunno why u need a deraileur OR gears at halipat really...
 

i run a 32 18 thru the whole park..
i have run a 32 16 and still climbed the ridges with only
minimal effort..
 
guess that 26 needs it tho..

i dont get the one foot or two thing...
i just think the 29er is a HUGE advantage..

10-4  
 
i was looking at that alfine setup a little more...
the hub alone is just over 3.5 lbs..
thats 1.3 lbs over an OK cassette hub with a sram 990 cassette..
hmmmmm
i do like the no tensioner deal tho.