I think you are all forgetting that the shortage of lenses at around the time the M9 was introduced was caused by photographers changing their lens requirements from a cropped sensor camera in the M8 to full frame in the M9. There was a sudden rush for 'real' 50mm lenses such as the Summilux rather than 35mm stand-ins, and a rush for 'real' 28mm Summicron's rather than the 21mm equivalent, as well as new Leica owners needing all the regular lenses like the 35mm etc.
Once this was dealt with, and it took a long time, stocks of lenses recovered. And I'm sure Leica anticipated another rush from new customers with the introduction of the M, hence the high levels in readiness at dealers. The problem is the rush hasn't come because the cameras haven't come. My local Premier Dealer has had 4 M bodies from Leica as of yesterday, and because all Dealers are allocated fairly they think there can be no more than 50 M's in the UK. And people are wandering away and cancelling their names on the list, something unheard of with the M9, where the backlog of pre-orders was cleared in around ten weeks.
Steve
Once this was dealt with, and it took a long time, stocks of lenses recovered. And I'm sure Leica anticipated another rush from new customers with the introduction of the M, hence the high levels in readiness at dealers. The problem is the rush hasn't come because the cameras haven't come. My local Premier Dealer has had 4 M bodies from Leica as of yesterday, and because all Dealers are allocated fairly they think there can be no more than 50 M's in the UK. And people are wandering away and cancelling their names on the list, something unheard of with the M9, where the backlog of pre-orders was cleared in around ten weeks.
Steve