I'll raise you; 3000€ to HAVE 3rd person. This game has so much eye candy it's a shame not to.
Disable when hardpoints open and no tracking view - no advantage in combat.
/rant
lets not get into ANOTHER argument on 3rd person, there are already threads for you to sound off in on that topic... nor do we need to compare epeen about how much money we are willing to spend for/to-avoid features that won't be implemented to begin with. Most you will get on that, exterior camera drones that you can launch to "inspect your ship" (take screenies, etc.), but you will have minimal, or no, flight control while they are deployed/active.
/end rant
Now, on-topic... I'm not worried at all. Development takes money, and smart companies "stockpile" cash before entering aggressive dev-cycles.
They're on track, and I will expect, graciously, the full Elite experience ca. 2014 Holiday Season... and first thing I'm doing is either selling that blasted Eagle for some start-up capitol, or if barred from ridding myself of it (for whatever reason), going pirate hunting in the Assellus Primus extraction Zones until I ram it into an asteroid, or die in a fire.