I know I should use such certain terms, but... I will anyway. I'm certain, really certain, that definitely, very soon that there will almost undoubtedly be something new in the shops.
I visited Bic Camera, the most important and influential camera and electronics product store to pick up a new hard drive. As always, I bee-line to the basement to drool over the three A900's they have on display there. The Sony displays were surprisingly sparse. There was only one A330 on display and the three A900's were still there. I'm almost without a shadow of doubt that they've made room for new stuff to hit the store very soon. There wasn't a whisper of an A500 or A550, nor A230 or A290.
Given that, and my level of excitement, there must be a new A5xx or A7xx, and probably an A2xx.
Interestingly, the lens display cabinets appear half full to what they usually are.
What I've noticed is that such news is usually available on the net long before anything touches the shelves in Japan. But that wasn't the case with the A700. I remember going to a special event where they had a model on a stage and sample cameras to play with, and sales reps, including English speaking ones... it was a real promo event. Albeit, held on the 11th floor of some hotel.
The other possibility is that they just needed to clear the display area for cleaning... and only the Sony display needed cleaning.
