You're right, nobody did it, or at least Gateway didn't specifically tell people to buy one at that time. But there was a hype that led to people saying they should buy it before it gets more expensive + people bashing Sky3DS for their lack of professionalism. It's nobody's fault yes, but the choice of getting a product on a promise that it would be usable is perfectly understandable.
All I'm saying is that GW also shows a lack of professionalism for not being clear on purpose. You don't throw news like that expecting people to stay calm and patient if you don't give them an approximation, be it months or years. I can perfectly understand that it takes time AND wait patiently -if- I know it's gonna take quite some time.
When you give money for a project on Kickstarter, don't you get upset if they never release updates of the product you paid for? It's the same case here, you pay for something expecting a product in the near future, but with no ETA. You are perfectly right to be upset of the lack of communication.