When we were kids, our mom told us never to take Amazon listings as evidence for anything. That retailer, she'd say, is so big and complex that its stock decisions can't be used to learn about new products. Still, the fact that Amazon's French and German outlets have marked the Apple TV as out of stock has got our heads a-scratching. After all, the company is saying that the product won't be available until October 23rd -- one day after Apple's forthcoming launch event. So maybe we'd hold off on buying one of those hockey pucks until the middle of next week, just in case.

Update: Well, Amazon France is now offering the hardware again, but with orders fulfilled by a third-party retailer rather than from its own, presumably empty, stocks.