If I were an ASIC manufacturer/distributor holding miners today, I would just mine and mine until the exact point in time where the miners are profitable for the consumers (barely) given the price and difficulty. Then I would ship.
Remind me to never do business with you.
However this could explain both BFLs ability to produce AND ship actual units, but without any significant volume. We also know that Josh may think similar to the above, even trying to pass it off as a 'burn-in' test to make sure the devices work.