ORIGINAL POST: Although it hasn’t yet appeared on any Wacom site, the new Bamboo Ink Smart Stylus was briefly available for purchase this week at Best Buy stores throughout the U.S. We’ve received unconfirmed reports that the pen won’t be available again until after its official release date June 1.

This on-again, off-again release is only fitting for a product that’s received very erratic promotion from the very start. The dual protocol pen was originally supposed to be announced on stage by Microsoft at its Build conference in March, 2016. But presenter Bryan Roper ran out of time during his Windows Ink demo and forgot to mention the new collaboration with Wacom. Instead, he tweeted the news a few minutes after he got off the stage.

For the next nine months, we heard nothing until Wacom issued a release at CES that the pen was almost ready. It showed up at Best Buy online a few weeks ago without a ship date and as I write this post, that retailer still shows the pen as a pre-order item with no store availability.

Last week, I was able to order one online and received it two days after walking in to my local Best Buy and purchasing another one in person. Several other pen enthusiasts on Twitter and TabletPCReview.com have reported finding them in stores throughout the country. According to an exchange with Wacom customer service, shared by reader Brian Eun, the pen will be officially unveiled and show up on Wacom’s site May 31. We certainly hope so, because the Bamboo Ink needs official support if it’s to fulfill its promise as a Surface Pen replacement.

A successor to the Bamboo Smart Stylus for select tablets and 2-in-1s (CS320AK), the new Bamboo Ink (CS321AK) retails for $70. But before you run out and spend your hard-earned money, it’s important to understand what it is – and isn’t.

The Ink has been positioned as part of Wacom’s Universal Pen Framework (UPF), but it’s still a significantly less-than-universal solution. The pen supports both Wacom Active ES devices and the Microsoft Pen Protocol (formerly NTrig’s DuoSense2). The pen DOES NOT work with Wacom EMR (passive) tablet PCs like the original Surface Pro 1 and 2. It also does not work with devices featuring pen tech from rivals like Synaptics.