Originally posted by Mikesul Since most of these items are sold by merchants other than Amazon it could be just a bad marketing move by the seller. It certainly does not make someone more likely to buy if there is a newer model coming, especially when there is no other information.
I believe on the contrary. Resellers such as Amazon may handle huge inventories comparable only to mail order stores like B&H and Adorama. The local camera shop may handle very small inventories and unless Pentax has special ordering rules as per "minimum" quantities, it may well be happening that Ricoh Imaging USA is actually running low on inventories for supplying the big players like Amazon, but for sure can sell and deliver 1 or 2 cameras to your local camera store.
In every product sale where big retailers grab most of the market, the small retailers have to play by their rules. The manufacturers cater for the big ones and leftovers are for the small ones. That is why you always see the big changes (price drops, rebates, giveaways) at the big ones, like this price drop that started at B&H and Adorama. Now its available at Amazon, but not available at the small retailer.
Some years ago, I had the opportunity to see, handle and open a special envelope sent by Pentax Japan to all retailers around the world, labeled "UNDER EMBARGO UNTILL SEP 1, 2004". Inside the envelope, there was a couple of printed pictures, a press release and two brochures of the new Pentax *istDL, that was officially introduced that date. I say that envelope two months in advance and promised my dear friends at the local photo store to keep my mouth shut!
But in this case (Amazon) which is a huge company, It wouldn't be strange their webpage handling and updating is outsourced and someone already has the new info "under embargo" for the "new models" of such and such gear, so they are just taking some steps towards the introduction of the new gear without revealing the new stuff.