AIBs having plenty of stock and retailers/e-tailers having plenty of stock is a different matter. You are going to have ship these cards from China to around the world. ATI just chooses to ship en-mass the $200 segment card first as a priority. They don't need to release Cayman asap because cypress is still selling well and want to give it some time to clear remaining stocks before making it obsolete with the new gen release. If they release it too early, their partners are not going to be pleased sitting on stocks of 5800 series which can't sell for worthwhile margins when Cayman arrives.
Prices have been dropping. It'll continue to do so depending on whether its selling well or not.
This still doesn't make any sense to me...
First of all, you still contradict yourself. Is it AMD or the AIBs that have Cayman in stock? It was AIBs before, now it's "ATI just chooses to ship en-mass the $200 segment card first". Which one is it?
Second, while Cypress may be dropping in price, the customers for a brand new generation and those that purchase the current generation products after the price drops are not the same people.
I tend to fit into the early adopter category with video cards and I haven't considered a Cypress card as an option for months, but I did buy one last October. Provided the performance is as we're expecting, my next AMD card will be Cayman, period. The sooner they get it to market, the sooner they get my money. I'm sure I'm not alone in this either...
To people that buy high end cards at launch the official announcement doesn't mean very much, as we tend to keep informed as to what's going on. The official announcement is just a confirmation (or denial) of the rumors we've been discussing for months. Any cannibalism of the 5-series caused by the 6-series for enthusiasts has already happened as a result of all the recent leaks. As long as ATI has been selling video cards, they should understand this by now.
Clearly you understand this, as even you've said that in light of the impending Barts Pro/XT launch that you would no longer recommend the 5850 as a good bang for the buck card.
Not to mention how eagerly "some" people were claiming Cypress was a paper launch OMG!!
Better to have plenty of boards in stock and ready to go with the new series.
Another reason this doesn't make any sense. They launched the 5870 with low availability and the the 5850 with even less availability. They still gained market share in the long run in spite of any criticism. Not to mention the fact that the low availability actually allowed AMD to raise the MSRP. Why deviate from a plan that worked?
I just don't see the sense in selling price reduced 5870s and the $200 Barts cards, which are most likely both lower margin cards than Cayman will be.
...unless they just don't have enough Caymans to sell.