Or at least one small part of Sony anyway. Much has been made recently of Sony's increasingly apparent loss of understanding of their target market over the Playstation 3, with rumours of stuff like overly-stringent DRM and licensing rights to use rather than selling games (not to mention the huge price of the PS3) and their never-ending trend of focussing on proprietary formats, but it looks like the latter might be loosening ever-so-slightly.
I was just browsing the Sony site again looking to see if there's any sign of the W950i phone coming out and came across a big ad for a new Sony camera, the a100. I thought I'd check it out through curiosity and it turned out to be a D-SLR (Sony's first I think?).
My next thought was that it would probably be stuck using Sony's proprietary Memory Sticks given their track record on such things, but it turns out they've actually been sensible and used a Compact Flash slot instead (though still providing an adapter for Memory Stick Pro Duos). I don't follow the photography scene, but it seems Sony have bought Konica-Minolta or something along those lines, so perhaps that's the reason - the camera was mostly developed already with CF.
The other camera specs look pretty good too - a 10.2MP sensor, quick auto-focus and image stabilizing within the camera and a price point of $900 for the body only (about £515). I haven't read any reviews yet, but if they're good then perhaps my good friend Ken, who just ordered a Nikon D70s at the weekend, should have waited a bit :D
UPDATE: Seems Sony have just entered a partnership to jointly develop D-SLRs with Konica-Minolta.
Ken’s Blog » Yay, My New Nikon D70s arrived this morning
[...] And just when I have got my new camera Adam had found out that the new Sony A100 had been recently released, mentioned on his post. But at this moment in time I’m proud to own a Nikon and not a Sony (D-SLR that is ). Plus I knew about the Sony, but I can’t afford it. [...]
June 13, 2006 6:04pm