About a month ago, when speculation of when the Sony A100 would be available was running high, I mentioned that Amazon.com listed the availability as August 1. A check this morning (July 31) reveals that Amazon is listing the Alpha A100 as in stock, ready for shipping, Choose overnight delivery and you can have the camera in your hands August 1. I see that Wolf Camera and Ritz Camera are also showing the A100 “In Stock.”
Meanwhile, Amazon has a link on their home page touting a “price drop” on the Canon Digital Rebel XT. Let’s see…the Sony Alpha started to become readily available and suddenly the street price of Canon’s entry level dSLR falls to a body only price of 699.00. Coincidence? I think not. (The list price is still said to be $1,400, but even Steven King doesn’t write better fiction that that.)
Meanwhile Pentax has quietly slipped it’s new K100D into the line-up, a 6.1MP camera offered at a list price of $699. When the discounters start trying to move these dSLRs, it is not inconceivable that the street price will be below $500.00 by the end of the year.
In the face of these pricing realities — and with the next “affordable” SLR from Nikon due in less than two weeks — how long before the A100 sees it’s first discount?
technorati tags:Sony Alpha, Canon, Pentax, Nikon
