Hmm i was reading Mountain Biking Australia and i saw a pic of the whole Hone range, i'll go have another look and see what i said about it.
Edit: Found the section just after i posted, its only a small caption but here is what it says...
"Shimano had their new hone groupset on display for all to see. This new component group has an axle mounted rear derailleur like the super heavy duty saint group set. It is built to be tougher than the traditional cross country parts like XT and LX but is still light enough for general trail riding. It will be interesting to see how it performs in 2005."
Well hope that helps for anyone not sure about its purpose
Shame it had no prices or weights...
Btw it was talking about the Bicycling Australia show where it was displayed