I am sure they never thought it could deliver 1.05 (remember it wasn't an estimate but 1.05 GH 2 digits of significant value) at 19.8W. That was simply a tactic to freeze out any sales of competitor products.
Which really cuts to the core of the issue, no? It does the entire BTC community a diservice. I imagine at least a couple enterprising individuals ceased developing their own products when they saw the "magical" specs for the bitforce. Flash forward 5 months and loe and behold the actual product is really not that much more efficient than a undervolted 5970.
It is too bad, as the more options for FPGA there are, the better it is for all of us as the proverbial "consumer".
I would love to announce a revolutionary vehicle I invented that gets 90 MPG (based on projections), at a price of $17,000. I would be inundated with pre-orders and have gobs of cash to then develop my product. Then when I actually delivered, and it only gets 63 MPG (not much better than a Prius), I would be thrown in jail for fraud.