Congrats ASICMINER on being first to the party. I hope your chips work.
I'm pretty sure some of the other ASIC vendors have been in this situation already.
However, none of the others have survived the next step yet ...
If ASICMINER survives the next step (a finished working device), then yes they will be "first to the party"
They are, however, first to actually show pictures of chips - nice