If they had 10 million bitcoins, why would they bother failing at this? Why would they invest in generating more bitcoins for other people to devalue their $200 million in coins they hold themselves?
Get a clue, they're f*****
Maybe you are not good at math. BFL announced the ASIC devices when BTC were $8 each. They could have picked up $100k worth of BTC as a side investment ($100k being a small percentage of their total capital required to manufacture ASICs) in their market, which would be worth $2.8 million today.
Also, if you think ASIC will devalue bitcoins, you need to look at some history. Difficulty increases have resulted in value increases EVERY SINGLE TIME. Not once has the difficulty skyrocketed while price crashed, never.
Can't use preorder money like that, its fraud. In the same way I can't sell you a computer delivered in 6 weeks and gamble it all in the mean time.
Because of outside factors.... supply and demand rules stay the same. If people love bitcoins and they want to invest, which scenario is going to hold a higher value... The one with 100m coins in circulation, or the one with 200m coins in circulation.