Update: the black M9 is now labeled as “Usually ships within 1 to 4 weeks”. A reader has ordered one on 1/15/09 from Amazon and he received an email back with an estimated delivery of 1/29-2/9 (thanks for the update J):
The steel grey M9 is now back to “signup to be notified” (and not taking orders). It seems that Amazon only take orders when they think they will have something coming soon: