As I think you've alluded to, if not explicitly pointed out, if BFL had made timely delivery, much the same economics would have been facing the buyers, only much earlier.

Maybe that would have discouraged the likes of KnC, FastHash, et.al., and the network would have reached an equilibrium.  But with as many ASIC design teams as there are, and as much foundry capacity as there is, that's doubtful.  

In fact, that would have been more likely to encourage a cartel model, built around private chip development rather than retail pre-order offerings.