I don't know what everyone else thinks, but this business of the retailers "not knowing" how many units they are getting in the first batch seems very likely to be BS. It could be that the CS do not know because they are not told, but it is close to certain that others in the retailer's organizations DO know. In any case, I suspect many of the retailers that "do not have the cameras until the 22nd", actually have received the shipments but cannot release them. Again, they know how many they have (unless they cannot count boxes).
Pretty clear that management is just trying to keep pre-order customers from jumping ship. Of course that will not work in the (somewhat unlikely but possible) event that someone finds one in a brick and mortar store. In fact, I plan to check a couple when I go to the nearby medium sized city late next week. You can be sure I will bring the phone and order number for my pre-order retailer with me and would cancel in a heartbeat if I can get one locally for what would almost certainly be the same price.
I can understand your sentiment, but I am not willing to pay the local sales tax. It would cost me almost $400 more to buy it locally because of it.