Looking at the Pi forum and also from personal experience, it looks like Farnell have just released another set of mails with shipping dates, ranging from early May (W/C 7th in my case) to W/C 28th May, so if you haven't received an e-mail yet, it may be worth checking your spam/ junk mail folder.
Pleased as I only got a mail last weekend, stating a W/c 4th June shipping date...but as ever, I'll wait until it is in my hand until I believe it :-)
Steve
I've been anxiously checking my email and Newark's website for weeks. I ordered just after 8AM on 29 Feb and to this exact moment I show nothing other than "backordered". My original order confirmation email showed 10 May as the date, but that email was sent on 29 Feb and a lot has happened since then.
I understand that the Farnell/Newark network is really big with multiple regional/country distributors, but I'll be really pissed if I don't get some update very, very, very soon. Even this thread shows people who ordered weeks after me getting shipping dates, whereas I still have nothing.
We won't know how the continuous manufacturing process operates until we've had 3 batches under our belt as precedent, or until company representatives tell us. They haven't chosen to tell us yet.
For any given rate of manufacturing, the two opposite shipping options for the factory are:
Batch #1 was messed up by being manufactured in two parts (2,000 and 8,000), the 2nd part of which was delayed by manual repairs to the boards made with the incorrect RJ45 socket, and also by waiting for the certification process to complete. And the start of continuous manufacturing may have been delayed by component sourcing too.
This forthcoming batch of 12,000 (which will be batch #2 counting them this way) is the first one made under the new continuous manufacturing regime, so we won't be able to conclude anything from it alone. Once we see batch #3 we'll be able to judge from its size whether they're using the fixed number strategy, and once we see batch #4 we'll be able to judge from the intervals between #2-3 and #3-4 whether they are using a fixed interval strategy. This assumes a fixed production rate which of course may not be the case, so we may see both intervals and batch sizes varying.
The only good way to know what's going on before we have LOTS of batches made and delivered is to ask Jenny and Co, and hope for an answer. 
Morgaine.
