There is a pic of the Alfine shifter here on this page, scroll down.
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=249842
It is a trigger shifter like XT, but looking a bit sleeker.
The Nexus pushbutton shifter is integrated with a brake lever, that sucks.
On that page, it is mentioned that the internals for Alfine and Nexus may be the same.