When does a delay or the failure to meet expectations cross the line into a scam?
Never, since that usually comes from bad luck or incompetence.
Really now? Maybe I should announce we'll be shipping at our
original shipping date of end of Feb, 2013 due to "bad luck"
??
You're not making sense...what's your point? You asked for opinions on when a delay can become a scam. I offered the opinion of "never" since a scam implies malice (which won't be present if the company really does intend to ship...), and you can't delay something that isn't coming. If you delayed right now to your original shipping date, I'd probably attribute that to bad luck, since your team seems pretty competent.
By the way, how come you have time to troll Josh? I thought you were so busy trying to ship that you couldn't update...