If I'm not mistaken, there were more ASIC manufacturers than ButterflyLabs (BFL). Cannot recall the name, but, one of them supposedly said it's not going to happen and refunded everyone's money. As for BFL, there are a long list of preorders ahead of you if you order now - which means the likeliness that by the time you receive yours, the difficulty has gone up so much that your miner is on the low end and won't make enough to cover the costs of the miner.

As for your question - why won't they just keep it for themselves - there are a lot of threads and opinions that discussed that before. Look it up ...