when is next batch due?

In a reply to a similar question I asked, in response to the latest 'front page' article on the 'official' Raspberry Pi website, Jenny Peters, an official Element 14 spokesperson said that... and I quote:

"yes we are – between early May and end of June we are expecting a number of shipments……commercial sensitivity prevents me saying any more at this time."

This is what I was hoping would happen, but it is good to have it confirmed.

Hopefully that means that those customers (like myself) who placed an order early in March may not have to wait quite as long as we thought!

Now this is what I've been asking for.  I've never expected to know exactly where between the mining of the necessary rare earth minerals and the shipping company's delivery truck my RPi was, but the recent Farnell/Newark announcement is the kind of minimal details I've always felt that the distributors should be giving us.

At the same time they have been clear that their order numbering system is not tightly linked across their global system and that there is no way that they can tell each person where they are in the queue.  So at least they will get some reduction in the number of people asking them this question.

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.

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

It looks like Newark has updated their availability dates.

The link in the OP now says:

   "1 Expected to ship 17 Jul, 2012

     Further stock expected to ship 7 Sep, 2012"

Steve,

   Jenny says the May batch will be FCC certified, but leaves ambiguous whether

that means Class A, just like the April batch, or whether that means it will

incorporate the minor design revision for Class B.   If it is Class B, and if the

design revision is not the sort that can be retrofited, then we can be pretty

sure these are newly manufactured boards rather than old boards with

resoldered ethernet jacks.

yet another strange update at Newark today:  17 Jul changed back to Aug 16.  

   "1 Expected to ship 16 Aug, 2012    

   Further stock expected to ship 8 Sep, 2012"

It'll be such a relief when the boards are finally available in sufficient quantity to be ex-stock.

All these annoyances about partial information will vanish instantly, users will totally lose interest in production rates and batch sizes, all three parties will have the freedom to organize production without needing to update the masses, techies will be able to concentrate on technology, educators on education, and bean counters on making money.  Everything will be brilliant.  But until then, this very depressing situation will remain.

It is safe to assume that RS and Farnell are working towards having Pi boards IN STOCK, right?  I can't imagine why not, but perhaps it should be asked.

And assuming the answer is "Yes", a guess at the quarter by which it might happen would be nice, so that we can plan ahead our multiple Pi projects and where applicable, our multi-Pi projects.

Morgaine.