Anyone who preordered the new 17-inch MacBook Pro will have to sit tight for the short term, with Apple announcing that the systems will not be available until after February 19th. Originally, the ordering page for the notebooks specified a shipping lead time of up to 10 days, which was put in place at the end of January. With a terse statement saying that the MacBook Pros are not yet ready to go, Apple has informed their users via e-mail that their orders have been delayed.
It's not surprising that no explanation was offered as to the cause of the delay. It is rare that Apple outright informs their customers of problems that set them back, whether it is a software or hardware issue. Sadly for the computer maker, it's usually an enterprising customer who ends up spilling the beans on large problems, with Apple swooping in to clean up a PR mess. It would be nice to see the company change their policy in the future, being proactive about telling customers (or potential customers) about issues they have. Not that it matters much for unreleased products, and anyone who has waited for high-class hardware is used to launch delays.