Either this is the end of profit opportunities in mining...
I think it's been this way for a while, at least for consumers / end users. Personally, I concluded that as an individual I have no real chance of successfully competing with big money interests that are now in the mining game. I also think it is very likely that there are many private / secret ASICs and mining clusters being developed behind the scenes, and unfortunately I suspect a subset of ASIC companies are simply announcing delays and mining for themselves with little fear of customer backlash having any impact on profits.
People have been pointing out the fact that ASICs purchased today with BTC will never ROI, but customers just keep buying them. For someone with a profit motive this is completely irrational, yet it continues. I'm sure the ASIC companies are happy to sell them hardware as far into the negative ROI window as possible. As long as the mining hardware can be sold for more than it costs to manufacture, the ASIC companies will generate profits. They just need to maintain a minimum ratio of difficulty vs. exchange price, which suggests that rising BTC value is necessary for ASIC manufacturers to survive. Considering that some of the ASIC companies are probably sitting on millions of dollars from private investments and pre-order revenues, they could probably buy up coins on the exchanges an drive the price up themselves if needed... and that is how a proper bubble is created.
