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Is Sram a threat to Shimano's dominance?
Shimano has grown to a cycling market colossus since entering the market in the 1970s. In the 90s it was virtually the only option for a complete Mountain Bike group set, and did battle with Campagnolo for the road bike segment. So despite Sram so aggressively chasing Shimano's market share why is Shimano still so dominant?

Mountain Bike Cassettes- Shimano or Sram?
When you look in the pro ranks, even Sram sponsored teams/riders have used Shimano cassettes and chains. Why? Sram cassettes and chains didn’t shift as well, and their top road cassettes were noisy and didn’t clear dirt as well (which has been fixed for 2012). But the Sram RED and 1099 and 1090 cassettes are works of art and weigh a lot less.

Shimano 11speed 9000 leaked details
Shimano Dura Ace 7900 while maintaining market dominance with strong OEM sales, has never wowed users with the floorless performance 7800 had. While still selling strong some users did change to SRAM. Sram is now coming out with a new lower weight group that shimano 7900 doesn't compete with too well. So what is Shimano going to do? The answer is the Dura Ace 9000 groupset due to be released to OEM during this year, and you'd expect pro teams to be using it at least by the Tour de France. Full commercial details haven't come out yet, but there have been OEM briefings to try and secure sales for the 2013 bikes which will actually start coming on the market in the second half of 2012.

Should you buy a chain brand other than Shimano?
Recently I did a report on Shimano v Sramcassette, and my conclusion was that with out a doubt most riders out there would be best off sticking with Shimano cassettes. Price, shifting, and in most cases weight are all in favour of Shimano's line of cassettes. But unlike with cassettes, there are a number of Asian companies competing in the chain market. Yes Sram sell road and MTB chains, but even thier sponsored pros tend to fit other brands so I'm not even going to worry about them!