Yeah they should have waited till the 3DS came out, but I think the 3DS has backwards capability so B&W will be playable on them..just with enhanced graphics.
B&w will be out in Japan this year..that is already known, and they will definitely be coming out in NA next spring (I guessing around early March to early April). It would be cool though if we got black and white in January or February. The wait seems long now, but usually I'm so pre-occupied with other stuff that I totally forget about the new pokemon games, or pay less attention to them, and before I know it it's only a few months to go till their release (like with HG/SS and Platinum).