I am keenly interested in seeing if placing pre-orders in the first *four* minutes did any good.
It worked out for me with the R5, and this camera will sell a lot less than a cheaper camera, but I also expect in the same vein they're making a lot less of these.
It would be very interesting to know the initial allotment Canon has in the first shipment for each dealer. Are we talking 10, 100, or 1000?
I hope you are right. On the pessimistic side though, I think some things have changed since the R5. I believe that most people still had a pre-pandemic mindset when the R5 was released -- which was "wait until it is out for a few months and let others be the beta testers. The price will go down once the initial demand tapers off or rebates will be available if I wait." That was coupled with it a lot of people wanting to see just how well it really performed before ordering.
With the R3 I think there may have been a lot of people like me -- who never pre-order anything and usually don't buy in the first year after release waiting for the price to drop -- who were up at 4:30 waiting to hit the "buy" button. With the experience of the last year behind us, we know that if we want something we have to order as soon as it becomes available.
I don't think people were in that mindset so much when the R5 was released, with most figuring shortages might last a month or two or might affect toilet paper, or consumer items, but not specialty items like cameras.
On a positive note though, it does seem Canon has a more difficult time delivering lenses than cameras. The R5 is pretty much available everywhere now and the R6 can be found if you look.