Looks like they did it today!

YahoO!

I was checking out that website and was interested in a few stuff.. Is there an English version of the site?

why don't you go for pro futaba? i have been buying from it since 2003. very good service and they ship.
look for soeda san.

Because they want a Sanwa......

The name is confusing, but it's a hobby shop in Japan that ships to the US and typically has great prices. Probably no US warranty though.

???????????????101A32401A?M17 ?SSL?? [101A32401A] - 52,360? : PRO-SHOP FUTABA : ONLINE STORE

Wow. What a great price.. That's probably pre-order with more on delivery though..

$478 dollars, I'd seriously see if they ship to us and how much to do it

Even though this thread has taken some weird turns, I do agree that current high end transmitters are pretty bad value for money.

I own a Sanwa Exzes ZZ (stick equivalent of M12) that I bought a new at half price of retail value and after using it for a year, I find that deal to be 'reasonable', but buying at full street price would have been an absolute joke.
Don't get me wrong, I love the speed, but there are sooo many things that should be better at the prices these things are going for. Just to name a few:

-Case still feels plastic-y, especially for a highest end radio
-Should come with a built in high capacity super fast charging phone style battery
-Should come with a high resolution colour LCD display
-Should be made way more dust-proof (like DSLR cameras) for the conditions we're using these in.
-...

Like I said, there are some great radios out there, most of them just cost 2-3x their actual value when looking at the components used.

The cost of designing, building and distributing a radio is a lot higher than just the bill of materials.

Of course, but even when that's factored in I find them to be really overpriced. The most annoying thing for me personally is how cheap the case feels for basically the best radio money can buy.

Judging by the fact that the high resolution color display is what is mainly responsible for draining my smart phone's battery every day, I'm a little astonished about how many people list that as the #1 needed option on their radios. I'd rather say it's actually a pretty useless gimmick on a transmitter, IMHO, but okay, I can live with radios having them, as long as their batteries still last reasonably long. What I really don't want my radio to be, is another phone/tablet thingy to run apps like youtube and such BS on - no, thank you. I already got devices sepcially created for that, and I'd like my transmitters created for steering my car please.

Back on topic, I've never looked back since getting a Sanwa M12 when I re-entered the hobby (never got the M12S, as I always figured I'd get the next model after that), so naturally, as a satisfied Sanwa user, I'm intrigued by the M17 (not for the full starting price though), but I'm not convinced by that touch pad. I could have lived with normal buttons quite happily, to be honest. I'm old-school, I guess - on the other hand, I probably wouldn't have minded a touchscreen either. Anyway, I'll wait until I see one live before I decide if I'm really going to buy one of these - being intrigued or not. And I loathe the idea of getting new receivers (I know I don't have to, but the little devil on my shoulder always wants the new stuff...)

i was told the first batch is a special edition which comes with a transmitter bag. but don't know if this is for japan local only

It's a good point.
I will have to see what the trigger drop consist of to know if the adaptation is as easily feasible as it would sound.

Interestingly enough, this radio "color screen and all" uses a 1S 3.6v 2500mah LiPo pack rather than the normal 5+v LiFe or Li-Ion, so I'd guess it's fairly efficient. And assuming the included lipo can be charged at 1C, this would allow for at least a 2.5amp charge rate. Fairly quick and painless using their base pod to set it on in between heats making this a non-issue.
Anyhow, I'm not sure you can call a "high res color screen" a useless gimmick either. Have you ever programmed an M12 vs a Futaba 4PX? Arguably this was a UI issue more than a screen thing I suppose, but I can tell you from personal experience that I could program the 4PX many times faster than I could the M12 and being able to graphically see what I was doing in regards to multi-point expo setups etc. made it much nicer to work with. I can't see how the screen thing can go any other way from now on. Eventually we will likely see complex contoured OLED screen integrations. For now though, LG has that market on lock down.