Sony will launch Alpha 500 and Alpha 550

The sonystyle.ca web site (Canada) has just been revealing something: When you try to register a newly bought camera you are offered the choice of registering:

• DSLRA500 (read Sony Alpha 500 body only)
• DSLRA500S (read Sony Alpha 500 in standard zoom kit)
• DSLRA550 (read Sony Alpha 550 body only)
• DSLRA550S (read Sony Alpha 550 in standard zoom kit)

But, obviously, those cameras do not exist (yet) in the Sony catalog. So, everybody is expecting to see them appearing very soon in a Sony press release. Will it be the opportunity for Sony to launch video-enabled SLR cameras?

The interweb is now filled with this photo which may or may not be a real Sony Alpha 500 picture.

Do you read the sensor resolution written on the body?

And so what? Five Sony SLR cameras launched in a matter of a month! Is that marketing? I would rather say ‘carpet bombing‘?