3c. are any of these orders likely to be part of the 'first batch' shipment from BFL?
Some of them are, not all of them. The number that will be in the "first batch" is kind of up in the air at the moment, given the current disposition of our first batch.
Since we have a limited number of available chips for the first batch, I will not, in good conscience, be taking a large swath of them.3d. what is the (best guess) expected rollout schedule once ASIC shipments start and conversion begins?
I don't currently have one, and will be doing this based on what's available and trying to serve the customers of BFL fairly.
Is it just me, or is it scammy as hell to keep orders that would've otherwise gone to first batch customers, who pre-paid over 8 months ago, and who have already been waiting 4 months past the original delivery date, just so you can upgrade your own operation's hardware?
I hope it's just me over reacting
EDIT: This is from June 2012
I am opening a new offering, basically mirroring the BFLS product. It is for the MiniRigs & SC ASIC offering.
IPO will begin tomorrow:
6058 shares will be allocated and sold per Minirig, initially 2 rigs worth of shares will be allocated, and 6058 shares can be traded in for the physical Minirig hardware. 15% of the shares will be kept for maintenance and operation costs.
Once the details of the ASIC unit orders are publicly available, available shares will double and be put up for sale. At that point, it will require 6058 x 2 = 12116 shares to convert your BFLS.RIG shares into the physical hardware (Mini-Rig or SC).
Dividends on RIG will be paid out the same way BFLS is currently paid, on a weekly basis and the amount will be what the unit(s) generate that week. Obviously, no dividends on RIG will be paid until the hardware is in actual operation.
RIG shares purchased are for a share of the unit, not to help fund the purchase of a unit, since the units have already been paid for. Funds will be reinvested into further ASIC orders, which means the ASIC units will be "pre-purchased" already, and you will be buying into already purchased ASIC units with your BFLS.RIG shares, not funding the purchase of ASIC units. This is an important distinction, since it means you'll start generating revenue much faster than a unit you would be "funding" the purchase of.
Ticker symbol is BFLS.RIG
The silver lining is that Josh believes in the ASICs enough to pay for some himself.
That begin said, should BFL fold, he'll be the first and possibly only one to get his money back