We have received confirmation that BTO iBooks are shipping from an Observer that requested anonymity. The iBook was announced almost a month ago at a special press event held at the companyis headquarters in Cupertino. The consumer laptop comes in four configurations, of which the two lower end models shipped first shortly after their introduction. In what may have caused only a few days delay, Apple made some adjustments and released itis high end CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo to its resellers and pulled the CD-RW configuration back in house as a build-to-order item. From our anonymous Observer:
Basically, I did a BTO on May 2 for a CD-RW/DVD combo drive, 20 GB drive, and AirPort card. I quickly realized that my order would be last on the list of iBooks going out, but happily I received my confirmation e-mail over the weekend. Considering Apple predicted 3-5 weeks, this was at about 3.5 weeks. Not too shabby.
Not shabby at all, and thanks for the note!