An Airbus marketing official may find the sonic cruiser to be "fascinating and intriguing", but they don't have enough bullion in the bank to simultaneously develop and tool-up production of both the A-380 and a mach 0.95 competitor to sonic cruiser.
IF, and thats a big if, Boeing pulls this off, Airbus must be thinking whether that will cap their A-380 market and they might never reach break-even on that plane, which I think Airbus claimed was 250 aircraft at about year 2011 (though there is skepticism about that break-even point).
From a marketing standpoint, the business and high-end traveler prize speed and convenience (flight frequency). Looking at the 3-class configuration of the A-380-100, I count 22 first class and 96 business class seats. How many of those seats will be filled if there is a competitive flight that gets passangers to their destination a lot sooner?
Does their market ultimately turn to one of flying planes with 800 steerage-class passengers on pilgrimages and to tourist meccas?
And given Airbus' comment that they are not interested in building an SST, does that mean that a Mach 0.95 aircraft with 100 first class seats is what will substitute for Concorde at the end of its operational life? That would be a sad commentary on aeronautical progress in the 21st Century, but it may also be economic reality.