Shipping stuff around from factory to wholesaler to retail to couriers to users all takes time. I'd rather they started that process now, got the device out, and then had a software update ready to go by the time the phone physically reaches me. Hell, I bought a TV recently and the very first thing it did on being switched on was a firmware update, I wouldn't be worried about a phone doing the same thing.

Also; regardless of what the release date is, and what the source of the hold-up is, the decent thing to do is to tell us honestly what's going on, not deliberately keep us in the dark with only occasional vague hints to go on.