What the real shame is is that BFLis the only ASIC provider that has an offering suitable for more casual miners. usb Block eruptors? Don't expect to ever recoup your costs of $100 for 300MH. All the others? Thousands of dollars. There's zero competition in the low-end space (5 Gh for $279..,, who's much is a 12 Gh Avalon blade?).
The price of a Jalapeno is at least more than ten times higher than $274 (not $279). If you actually want to have it within a few days. The start price for one on eBay is $2,969 and will likely be higher once the auction ends:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Butterfly-Labs-ASIC-Jalapeno-bitforce-5-8-GH-s-IN-HAND-NOT-PRE-ORDER-/130949363921?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e7d30b8d1$274 gets you a Jalapeno PRE-ORDER. Big difference.
If you pre-order and get the Jalapeno at the end of the year (or heaven forbid next year) due to the expected highly increased difficulty it will likely produce less coins than a USB Block Eruptor does NOW.