Looks like the Apple Store sent everyone who ordered a 500MHz or a build-to-order configuration this email (who, in turn, forwarded this to us many many times over the past twenty-four hours):
To Our Valued Apple Customer:
We appreciate your recent order for our new, exciting custom-configured PowerBook G4. We realize you are very anxious to receive your new PowerBook G4, and we are very eager to ship it to you! This email is to inform you we have incurred a delay and that we now expect your custom-configured PowerBook G4 to ship by February 24th.
This delay is the result of the high demand for the product. We apologize for the delay, and we appreciate your patience in waiting for your PowerBook to arrive. We will ship all custom-configured orders in the sequence they were received, and you will receive an email notification once your order has been shipped.
While our goal is to ship your order as soon as possible, if you wish to change or cancel your order as a result of this delay, we can be reached at 800-676-2775 between the hours of 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. central time.
Once again, we apologize for the delay and thank you for choosing Apple!
The new date, February 24th, is as official as can be. If you can’t wait, many of our readers have reported success in tracking these down in the retail channel (“Exclusive: Titanium G4 Arrives at Go2Mac World HQ!“). Stay tuned to the front page and the Tracker for the latest, and keep sending in the tips/corrections. If an Apple Store employee sneezes, we need to know about it.
