Funny reason for 1D MkIII delay

A while ago I took the decision to go ahead and get a 1D MkIII. Irritatingly though, it has not been released here yet, despite the fact that it has been released thought the rest of the world, albeit in limited quantities.

I finally got hold of someone at Canon who had some knowledge, and it turns out they have the actual cameras sitting right there, but they are waiting for the Arabic manuals!!! It kind of makes sense, but I don't read Arabic so I asked them if I could buy it without the manual. Sorry, no, they are not allowed to do that. Argh!!!

They have set a price though, which was a pleasant surprise. Normally, Canon equipment is set to between 50-100% above the US price, but this time it is just slightly above the US street price. $4700. Not bad.

They must be on the sane slow boat as the ones for Ireland then. I wouldn't mind but Canon don't do Irish language manuals to the best of my knowledge, so the English 1DMkIII will do me fine please.