Problem is, sales channels are leaky. Either it gets pre-announced within a realistic time of street availability or people start finding it on eStores and don't get an accurate picture (the accuracy of descriptions on stores is often far from perfect).

ISTR the iPod mini was announced a couple of months before you could actually get it. The G4 was announced a few days before it was available, leaving retailers with hard to shift stocks of G3's - something which doesn't exactly endear Apple to many resellers.

Hugo