Well, a delay of a few months is well worth it with what is essentially ATI's hammering out of their 130 nanometer process.
I felt the same about nVidia's delay of the GeForce FX: I'd rather they get the process right so the failure rate isn't high than have them release something buggy as hell. I may have to wait, but I am patient.
Getting the 9600 Pro right is definitely important to ATI, as I believe that is going to probably be the card that everyone will look back on as making/breaking them from the updated R300 line. If the R9600Pro can outperform the FX5600Ultra, then that's a win for ATI with the whole line, IMHO.