My understanding, as a newcomer to Bitcoin and to mining, and as someone with an order for a Little Single SC that I hope to see delivered some day:

BFL produced and shipped some decent FPGA-based mining hardware in the past. They are making the transition to ASIC hardware and have had a bitch of a time getting things right. ASIC engineering is really hard, even when you're used to designing and manufacturing electronics at a higher level (printed circuit boards, etc.) It took a long time to get the ASIC design right and it uses a lot more power than they thought it would. Their problems stem not from their engineering so much as their management of expectations. They were way too optimistic about their timeline and now some people are beyond pissed because they pre-ordered last summer and have yet to receive their promised hardware. But the ASIC design is done, the first Jalapenos have shipped, the redesigned cases and power supplies for the Singles and Little Singles are almost done, and it looks like there's finally a light at the end of the tunnel. A lot of people will accuse BFL of being scammers, but I don't personally believe that to be the case. They've produced ASIC hardware and gotten it into the hands of third parties for testing. Yes, it took a lot longer than expected, but I have no reason to think I won't eventually get my Little Single.