I doubt Outlaw would make a public announcement stating that a product is in beta testing as that may not be in their best interest. But some companies have released info referencing their products and progress through out it's development stage. I don't see that happening with Outlaw, but of cousre I may be incorrect.

With respect to release date, the quote on August 2nd was: "based on our latest estimates we're targeting a release at the end of the year." They did not specify the end of the calendar year or the end of the fiscal year. Keep in mind that some companies fiscal years do not end on December 31st, they end on March 31st which is the end of the first financial quarter of the new year.

A release date in March makes some sense as December and January are not typically greats months for a new product release. Think of the financial burden placed on families during December as well as the stress of the holiday's and the end of the year (tax time).

Also, we have CES 2012 January 10-13 which would be a great time for the products first showing and demo which would create interest and publicity for the enthusiast. After CES, pre-orders could be scheduled for a release date in March which would give Outlaw some info as to how many units they can project to sell in the first quarter of the products release and also going forward into it's first summer. This information would be extremely valuable for manufacturing and shipping planning and it would also allow Outlaw to tweak some important business decisions concerning the product as well as future products for the "fiscal" year.