Disclaimer: This post contains no hard new information. Just some thoughts about what we know so far.

My feeling, from these threads and other forums, is that there is a very significant number of people holding double or even triple preorders - one with Nokia, one with Amazon, one with Newegg, Buy.com and Dell.

Once the first retailer starts shipping, there will be a lot of cancellations, and the other retailers will be stuck with very large inventories.

First point: This creates HUGE pressure on the retailers to be first to ship. If they haven't started so far, it's not because they don't care. Either they don't have the phones in stock or they are legally bound to start selling on a particular date. I bet every dude(tte) going to the Flagship stores is cancelling a preorder somewhere.

Second point: Once retail shipments start, there will be large inventories available (due to all the double preordering and cancellations). This will bring prices down and create a surge of sales, especially if it happens before Xmass.

Third point: Nokia have taken the "no such thing as bad publicity" to its limits with this launch. I don't believe it's clumsiness. I think they were very careful and calculated in holding back information and releasing bits and pieces to keep the interest up, while delaying the launch just long enough to let the buzz reach the largest audience possible. Time will tell, but I think that annoying as it was from the customer's perspective, this release will make it into the marketing text books of the future.