Leap Motion delayed as Best Buy takes the blame

This week the pre-order ship date for the Leap Motion 3D controller device has been moved due in part to a mistake made with Best Buy orders. This date change will not affect the way the device functions, but will change when the device is sent to those that have already pre-ordered the device. The date at which Leap Motion will be leaving the factory is now is in mid-to-late July.

Beta testing in will continue through June, as the heads at Leap Motion have let it be known today, while the ship date for the device appears now to be hard set for July 22nd. Arrival dates will be soon after, depending completely on customer locations relative to the ship points. Leap Motion has made it clear that their requirements for release are extremely strict and that the beta test period was alwasy in play.

"We are behind schedule, it's not as if we woke up for the first time today and decided we needed a beta test," noted Leap Motion CEO Michael Buckwald. According to the Buckwald, they do have the ability to meet the original ship date, but have delayed it due to their desire for more comprehensive testing on the device. At this moment, it would appear that the hardware is ready, software tweaks may be in play, and the product "could be shipped tomorrow."

As for the HP deal spokem about quite recently, it would appear that nothing has been affected between them and the computing company.

"It definitely won't affect the HP deal. All the milestones that were in play with the HP deal are still in effect." – Buckwald

The only different between the Beta test units that are created today and those that will be out later this year will be an updated SDK. This software update will bring the device up to the final release version of the machine which will, indeed, be shipped at first on July 22nd.