This is a matter of perspective.

For me, for example (mind the geographical position), LPC932A1 is E4.5 apiece in quantities of 10-50 from 1 (one) supplier; and it's 3V only, which means to use less readily (hence slightly more expensive) peripherals.

ATMega8, a very comparable one, has a very wide power supply, and can buy over the counter in virtually every shop dealing with electronics for the equivalent of cca E3, in quantity of 1.

I too would say that '51s simply die out because of lack of interest from the manufacturers who massively moved into the ARMs - see Lynn Reed's report a few months ago. On the other hand, the Norway group of Atmel is very aggressive on keeping the AVRs alive.

JW

PS. Just opened up the AVR32 devkit, it's really a mess, any experiences out there?