Yes, I googled it and what turns up is a bit contradictory.
Apple's website mentions November - and one of the articles I came across mentions more specifically the 27th of November.
However, a number of other sites (with a story popping up after my first post) report that the model may be delayed into 2013.
While delays may not be new to Apple (I had my latest 27" model getting available about 1.5 month after initial given date) it was up to now usually possible to pre-order. This seems however not to be possible for the new models, while - on the other hand - Apple stores don't sell previous models either.
This model was thought to be given as a gift, thus dates were important to me.