Please, Please move heaven and earth to get the chips deployed ASAP. I am not convinced that selling hardware is best now... I should rather see the hardware be deployed, right now, mining for us.
Selling the shovels is ALWAYS the most profitable.
In theory, with proper pricing (and an Auction would be a good way of doing price discovery), then the owners of ASICMINER shares would be no worse off if ASICMINER started selling hardware rather than mining with it. And it's possible we'd be better of, if ASICMINER is able to sell more hardware than they can deploy.
But it seems like it could be a lot of hassle for management to go through the process of selling/shipping all that hardware, setting up a website to collect payment etc.
And that leaves those of us who actually want to mine with shares in ASICMINER that are now mining a tiny fraction of the network.
Maybe we need to canvas some ideas other than outright selling hardware.
What if each each ASICMINER share entitled its owner to purchase at or near cost a mining unit with 1GH/s capability, say. Now with 200,000 shares, there's your 200 TH/sec. Or maybe instead of purchase near cost, it's paid for with forgone dividends, and once all units are shipped the next batch starts, until such time that the income from mining won't support production any more.
Or if we're intent upon retailing, maybe ASICMINER shareholders get preference in all shipping/delivery of miners.
How about this for an idea - instead of a share entitling you to purchase a 1GH/s miner, you can swap your share for a 1GH/s miner. And for every retired share, ASICMINER would then sell a class-B share on-market. Class B shares could also be swapped for miners, and would have full voting rights, but wouldn't be eligible for dividends. That way those that decide to hang on to their Class A shares would be rewarded with an increasing share of a smaller dividend pie.
Of course we could just sell the units retail to the highest bidders and distribute profits to shareholders, and those shareholders that wish to mine can simply purchase and mine themselves.
I'm sure there are other options out there that will maximise the value for shareholders (where value !=
BTC necessarily).