Looks like the motherboard manufacturers may have won this round of wrangling. It's been said plenty of times: pushing out the X48 so soon just plain doesn't make sense. Not only do you have stock issues like this one, you're also taking a swipe at your user base, many of whom just purchased an X38-based mobo.

"The motherboard maker fears that the X48 chipset will slow down clearance of its X38 chipset inventory and has negotiated with Intel to delay the launch of its X48 chipset. However the delay is expected to hurt makers who do not have an overstock X38 chipsets."