when is next batch due?

Looking at the response from Jenny in the RasPi forums, the 8,000 that Liz seemed to think would be arriving this week (AKA the missing 8,000) are the ones that Farnell are taking delivery of in early May.

Also she mentions they will be FCC certified, so does this mean, as has been speculated  elsewhere, that until fairly recently these boards were not actually made and were only in kit form ? If this isn't the case, why is it taking so long to get this batch over here, when Liz seemed to think they were already with DHL? There hasn't been any further clarification from Liz, so I'm taking what Jenny says as correct.

Does make me wonder what the hell is going though ?

Regarding numbers, wouldn't be surprised at 250,000 international orders, but I'm sure Farnell UK *only* has around 62,000. Also, with RS I'm guessing they are expressions of interest which won't necessarily correlate to orders. I think there will be another surge though, July / August time (?) when they finally become available on a rolling basis and orders will come through from people like Morgaine above who are waiting until you can just order one without all the fuss currently involved. I'll also be ordering at least a couple more as I always believe in having a spare (or two) in case something 'untoward' happens to the first one :-)

I do find it comforting though that Farnell are being so open even though they are a commercial venture, as the foundation itself seems little bereft in this area at times ?

@Steve: Well I guess it's possible that Liz simply has no idea what's going on and hence is not giving the masses good info.  I doubt it though.  My money is on mushroom management,

I do have one board on preorder, but I waited until the storm died down before ordering it so I'm probably at the rear of the queue.  It doesn't bother me though, as I never succumbed to the feeding frenzy or hype.  Since I want a pile of them, their status is effectively "Unavailable" for my requirements until Farnell or RS has them in plentiful stock for next-day delivery like any other product.  Farnell's service is excellent for that.

Going by Liz's posting this am,

We now have in excess of 100,000 confirmed orders for the Raspberry Pi globally and can confirm that everyone  who ordered before 18^th April (i.e. today!) will definitely receive their Raspberry Pi before the end of June 2012, whatever your existing order confirmation says!

Then my April 17th Order will be delivered sooner than I would reasonably expect, which is good. But too soon perhaps as I want those with more knowhow to do some magic first for me to then tinker with.

Going by Liz's posting this am,

We now have in excess of 100,000 confirmed orders for the Raspberry Pi globally and can confirm that everyone  who ordered before 18^th April (i.e. today!) will definitely receive their Raspberry Pi before the end of June 2012, whatever your existing order confirmation says!

Then my April 17th Order will be delivered sooner than I would reasonably expect, which is good. But too soon perhaps as I want those with more knowhow to do some magic first for me to then tinker with.

This detailed news from Jenny of Element 14 suggests that 100,000 is not the monthly shipment size --- it must be around half of that or less.  It's still great news though!

The update on the Rpi blog was this one -- http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/1081