Opentoe:
They also have working prototype(s), atleast according to BFL Josh/Inaba and Luke JR, who is independent developer (BFGMiner)
They indeed have promised to honor the sold hash rate, i would assume they will make it up with Jalapenos or multiple unit shipping. Which actually is good -> Multiple units is higher resiliency. For example if they give 2xLittle SC for those who ordered Single SC, if another fails, you only loose 50% instead of 100% of hash rate.
Dissecting the higher pricing
The effects are multiple fold:
- Early "investors" (ie. preorders, esp. early ones) gets a benefit over others by getting half price units which have higher hash rate (or equivalently multiple units per 1 unit) compared to someone buying today
- That same will also mean that preorder people will have higher returns for longer
- Active miners benefit over others due to current high BTC:USD exchange rate
- High margin might allow BFL to have on-stock products for fast/immediate shipment when backlog has cleared
- High margin also allows budget for starting next gen immediately after current gen is on distribution and backlog fully cleared (which i hope they don't even mention before first wafers are out of fab)
- Downside is network security -> way less units, with way less hash rate will be sold in total
- More downside in network security -> not many are willing to put down 1300$ as their first miner, so entry will be with 250$ Jalapeno not making up that much hash rate relative to other units
- If they go for higher availability with increased margins, newbie miners get online faster
Now they damn better start shipping within couple of months