I think it's gone forever
I think Apple wasn't selling enough iSights to make it worthwhile even with their high sticker price. I had an iSight a few years ago. I recorded a couple of brief video messages for distant friends who didn't have web cams and I took a short home movie of my infant daughter. I realized it was a waste of my money and sold it.
Certainly there's a market for video chat. My company even conducts job interviews that way for candidates who are far away, but there's no need for all of us to have web cams or we'd have them already. Putting them into all the laptops and displays doesn't change the fact that we rarely need that capability.
I don't think Apple should put cameras into their displays, but doing so won't prevent me from buying one; price already does that. (Apple C$799, Samsung $529, Dell $449). I recently moved up from 17" to the Samsung 215TW and I'm very happy with it.
I have to wonder about work places where cameras are banned. Clearly that keeps Apple equipment out, but what about cell phones? Almost every mobile available has a built in digital camera and it won't be long before they all do. Then what?