Usually apple do not pressent a product unless its ready for sale either the same day or the next. However, with mobile phones there is the issue of fcc approvals, as they are made public (allowing sites like engadget to pull "fcc friday"). Therefor apple had to announce the original iphone without their customary next day availability.

Apple is one fine tuned marketing machine. Rather then risk a accidental product release on their online shop, they take down the whole page when its time to add new entries...

And their physical shops do not have tech support, instead its the "genious bar". And yes, its styled as a actual bar. And please reserve your visit beforehand...