Surprises me they released under those circumstances, or it is selling better than anticpated.
I'm assuming something happened (unexpectedly) since the announcement in Sept./Oct. when Apple said that the new Mac Pro would be available in December.
What surprised me is...if someone at Apple felt the need to stick to that statement/timing...I'm not sure waiting until Dec. 19th was the best thing. I know that sometimes companies make an announcement like this (close to a major holiday) in the hopes that it will receive less media attention...and "blow-back" from consumers. Especially when they know they won't be able to satisfy consumers.
The consumer products companies that I've worked for would NEVER make a new product announcement/release like this basically right before Christmas. Mid/Late-November (Thanksgiving) and December are always big no-no's for this sort of thing. Unless it's a product like the new XBox or PS4 that depends heavily on Christmas sales to make a "Big Year".
AND...assuming that there were some new Mac Pro's in stock (either online or in stores)...not having enough of the them was kind of silly. Since it seems that if there were some in stock...the stock was pretty "thin".
Also (I guess)...the many Mac diehards can't say Apple fibbed back in Sept/Oct that the new Mac Pro was going to be available in Dec. (now that it's been "technically" released). I guess what Apple didn't promise was that enough units would be available.
- Nick