Sony Alpha DSLR-A100 Hands-On Preview: Digital Photography Review:

In July 2005 konica minolta and Sony made an announcement that they were to jointly develop digital SLR cameras. This agreement hinted at shared technology between the two companies such as auto focus, metering and Anti-Shake coming from Konica Minolta and sensors, electronics and batteries from Sony. Some six months later Konica Minolta dropped a bomb on the camera market by announcing that they were withdrawing from the camera business and had transferred certain camera assets including the Maxxum/Dynax lens mount and related SLR technologies to Sony.

I really like the look of the 'eye start' AF - instead of half-pressing the shutter release, you just bring your eye to the viewfinder, and the camera begins to auto-focus.

As always, DPReview has all the information you could possibly want, and then some.