I have my doubts as I've seen what's on order ahead of mine and there are no 9.8s; that being said, hopefully the backlog will break loose and it will arrive sooner vs. later. In time for ski season, no doubt.
In this context, 'later' is readable as "when the model gets replaced in the line-up by the 10.9 XYZ" so 'ski season' is not that bad
I'm not really kidding - the idea that all standing orders will be delivered before a model gets replaced is... quite optimistic.