Orbotix announced this morning that Sphero, the baseball-sized motorized ball that you can control with your smartphone, is finally beginning to ship after a number of delays. We first saw the odd little gadget at CES almost a year ago, and in the months following, demand was so strong that Orbotix couldn't keep up with pre-orders — it announced two weeks ago that the device wouldn't be available for the holidays. Now the company's ready to get the $129.99 Sphero on the market, and the first batch of pre-orders should be filled around the 22nd — just in time for stocking stuffing. It's also releasing five apps in both the iOS App Store and the Android Market that let you do different things with the ball, plus an SDK so you can develop your own apps sure to terrify your pets.

We've been playing with Sphero for a while, and we've got a review of the bizarre little ball — check it out!