Shortage -- Engadget

shortage posts

Amazon says PS3 Slim already facing supply shortages, Sony disagrees

by Paul Miller posted Aug 21st 2009 at 10:42AM

Been holding off on that PS3 Slim pre-order, waiting for Sony to tell you that this whole PS2 backwards compatibility issue was just a big misunderstanding, and of course Sony will keep trying its best to reintroduce PS2 compatibility into the PS3? Well, you might want to rethink that strategy, cowboy, because Amazon is warning of "shortages of this product across the US." It's already limiting Slim sales to one per person, and has a more lax five-Slims-per-person strategy in the UK. Meanwhile, Sony in Europe is saying not to worry, since it has "trucks and trailers" of the new console already on the road . We just don't know who to believe these days, but if you're not prepared to wait past September 1st for a crack at the Slim, you've got some deciding to do.

Read - GamesIndustry.biz
Read - MVZ

Nintendo finally sees Wii demand slowing, calls iPhone a DS / DSi competitor

by Darren Murph posted Jul 30th 2009 at 4:39AM

While it seemed that all was going well for the Big N, it looks like those jovial times are finally coming to a (temporary) end. In an earnings report filed today, the company posted a 66 percent fall in quarterly operating profit on "slowing demand for its Wii console and a stronger yen." It's not so much the profit slide that's surprising, but the sudden admission that Wii demand has finally (finally!) slowed from a raging boil to simply piping hot definitely caught us off guard. Still, Nintendo maintained that it would sell 26 million Wii consoles before the year was out alongside 30 million DS handhelds, the latter of which has seen momentum slow due to "increased competition in the handheld business from Apple's iPhone." Now, we've known for some time that the suits in Cupertino have always viewed the iPhone as a game console, but to hear it called out as such from an entity not named Apple is another matter entirely. Maybe it should reconsider that whole "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" thing? Nah.

[Image courtesy of QuiteCurious]

Pre-ordered Viliv X70s delayed to August 11, new customers might have to wait till September

by Vladislav Savov posted Jul 29th 2009 at 2:32PM

The way we hear it, there are plenty of Viliv fans out there disappointed that Dynamism missed its promised delivery date for pre-ordered X70 units this week. The retailer says that component shortages are responsible for the delay and is now hoping to deliver by August 11, but there's worse news: new orders aren't expected to ship until September 2, turning what was once a fashionably late arrival to US shores into a rather embarrassing month-long delay.

[Via Pocketables]

Sprint and Palm admit that they don't expect wild lines for Pre

by Darren Murph posted Jun 4th 2009 at 12:22PM

It's hard to say what changed between May 20th and today (any ideas, Verizon / AT&T?), but it seems that Sprint's tone on the impending Pre launch has shifted just a bit. In a new report over at Bits, we're told that both Sprint and Palm are informing the public to not expect lengthy lines on launch day. Naturally, both firms are spinning this like it's a good thing, with Palm's Lynn Fox proclaiming that "[Palm's] not like Apple." Mark Elliott, a spokesman for Sprint, even went so far as to say that it was actually attempting to "manage the exact opposite" of long lines, noting that Sprint wanted "each customer to get the experience" rather than being rushed in and out. Honestly, the spin factor was most obvious when he outed this line: "[Success] is not about having a line out the door; it's about being able to treat each customer and make sure they're happy with their decision." Alrighty then.

[Image courtesy of IDR]

Sprint CEO expects Palm Pre shortages, sleeping bag sales skyrocket

by Thomas Ricker posted May 20th 2009 at 7:26AM

Know the best way to guarantee long lines outside of Sprint stores on June 6th? Have your CEO announce that he expects a shortage of Palm Pre handsets at launch. According to a Reuters transcript of Dan Hesse speaking to investors,

"We don't intend to advertise it heavily early on because we think we are going to have shortages for a while. We won't be able to keep up with demand for the device in the early period of time."

If true, if troubled Palm can't meet demand then this is certainly bad news for investors in a white-hot smartphone market with plenty to entice rejected Palm hopefuls this summer. Then again, Nintendo drove gamers nuts (and some would argue, artificially inflate demand) for almost two years with its chronic Wii shortages. Problem is, Palm isn't as fiscally solvent as Nintendo was in 2006... by a long shot.

[Via everythingpre]

Nintendo ships 50 million Wii consoles, which still isn't enough

by Darren Murph posted Mar 25th 2009 at 5:24PM

Earlier this month, both AMD and IBM announced that they had shipped the 50 millionth Wii GPU and CPU, respectively, so it was only a matter of time before Nintendo came forward to say what everyone was already thinking: the Big N has shipped 50 million Wii consoles worldwide. Today at the outfit's Game Developers Conference keynote, Satoru Iwata confirmed that it had moved "more than 50 million" units, making it "the fastest selling video game hardware in history." Interestingly enough, the company also announced its 100 millionth DS shipment just under a fortnight ago, so it's pretty safe to say things are going well in the Mushroom Kingdom. Now, if only it could get through a Christmas without ruining the lives of hundreds of thousands of kids with procrastinating parents, we'd be able to hand over a "kudos" with a straight face.

Wii shortage finally nearing its end, says GameStop exec

by Ross Miller posted Mar 20th 2009 at 4:26AM

We never, ever thought it'd take this long, but we've finally received a sign that the Wii supply and demand might be nearing some equilibrium, almost two and a half years later. According to GameStop SVP Bob McKenzie, the retailer now has a couple weeks' worth of supply, which seems to be fairly unprecedented given the numerous shortage stories we've heard over the console's 852-day lifespan. That's not to say the console's popularity is waning -- it's still topping US sales charts, and according to NPD, pushed over 750,000 units last month. So now that one shortage might be nearing its end, how about Nintendo find a way to keep Wii Fit in stock?

[Via Joystiq]

Read - McKenzie on Wii supply
Read - February NPD figures

Apple once again squeezing Samsung's flash memory supplies?

by Nilay Patel posted Feb 20th 2009 at 8:04AM

Apple and Samsung have a long history of locking up large-scale flash memory deals, and it looks like these two lovebirds are at it again -- word is that Cupertino's bought up all of Sammy's output until April of this year. That's an awful lot of memory -- Samsung manufactures some 40 percent of the world's flash -- so if we were the betting sort we'd say Apple's planning on making a bunch of new flash-based devices around that timeframe, potentially in preparation for a June launch. Hm, what could those possibly be?

[Via All Things Digital]

Best Buy rumored to be hoarding Wiis for holiday push

by Darren Murph posted Dec 10th 2008 at 5:16PM

It's hard to say if this rumor is true, but it's not behavior that Best Buy has avoided in the past. In fact, we vividly remember this exact same scenario happening in late 2006 -- the difference? That was the Wii's launch year. This is two years later. Two. Years. Later. Oh, and it's totally a futile effort, considering that Wally World sold through "tens of thousands" in about four milliseconds. Seriously people, there's a new Elmo to wage holiday war on, you have no business scrapping for a Wii 25 months after it hit US shores.*

[Via NintendoWiiFanboy]

*Image above is assumed to be Photoshopped, as we cannot find a single human to confirm ever seeing that many Wii consoles for sale in one location.

Manufacturing delays said to be slowing XPERIA X1 sales

by Donald Melanson posted Nov 4th 2008 at 1:04PM

As you might have noticed, there's already plenty of Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1s out in the wild by this point, but there's apparently not quite as many as SE would like, and it's laying the blame on some slightly mysterious manufacturing delays. According to IDG News, Sweden, Germany and the U.K. have been hardest hit by the delays, but Sony Ericsson isn't about to get much more specific than that about the matter, saying simply that a lack of "certain materials" is causing the shortages. The company has said, however, that more phones should be shipping into Sweden in the next few days, with the U.K. and Germany set to get additional shipments in the next few weeks. It also says that planned launches in other countries like Switzerland, France, and Singapore, to name a few, won't be affected by the delays, and that the phone is still on track to be released in the US sometime in November.

[Via the::unwired]

Nintendo cranking on Wii production for the holidays, still making no promises

by Darren Murph posted Oct 27th 2008 at 3:31PM

Hard to believe, nay, mind-boggling, that two full years after Nintendo launched the Wii in America we're still looking at shortages. In the midst of "economic turmoil," no less. Back in April, Reggie Fils-Aime proclaimed that he was "passionately upset" about the difficulty consumers were having in finding Wii consoles, and now that yet another holiday season is upon us, it's clear that he's made some changes. In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, he admitted that Wii production was up from 1.6 million units per month (during this time last year) to 2.4 million units per month (now), though he wouldn't go so far as to say you'd have an easy time finding one. In fact, he stated that "once you see [a Wii console] on the shelf, you ought to buy it." Also of note, those still scouting a Wii Fit may be in luck, as the Big N could decide to ship more units to America rather than Europe now that the greenback is gaining strength versus the euro. Good luck hunting -- we'd recommend you start looking, um, yesterday.

Update: Looks like Ninty's already turning up the burners -- that's a heretofore-unbelievable shot of Wii stock at reader Roberto's local Best Buy in West Paterson, New Jersey.

[Via GameDaily]

Read - Reggie Fils-Aime interview
Read - Analyst's take Wii Fit shipments

Analyst says Nintendo deliberately redirecting Wii Fit to Europe

by Donald Melanson posted Jun 2nd 2008 at 1:14PM

While the supposed Wii Fit shortages are nothing compared to the now infamous Wii shortages we've seen, at least one of those ever-insightful analysts now claims to deduced the cause of them, and he's laying the blame squarely on the big N. According to Wedbush Morgan Securities' Michael Pachter, Nintendo has shipped some 2 million Wii Fit units to Europe, while reserving a mere 500,000 for North America, which he surmises can only mean that Nintendo is deliberately redirecting 'em in order to take advantage of the strong Euro. Pachter seems to think that Nintendo will still make out alright in the end, however, saying that, "they know that Americans will be just as fat a few months from now," when it'll have more units available.

[Via GameSpot]

Nintendo "passionately upset" about Wii shortages, won't give out free Mario cakes

by Darren Murph posted Apr 24th 2008 at 10:05PM

Besides being infuriated with leaving over a billion dollars on the table this past holiday season, Nintendo of America is also "passionately upset about the lack of product relative to demand." Those words came straight from Mr. Reggie Fils-Aime himself, who noted that North America was the only Wii-serviced territory where supply and demand were still out of sync. Reportedly, some 40-percent of the 1.8 million Wii consoles manufactured each month are making their way over, but even after 17 months on the market, the average Wii sits around on retail shelves for "just an hour before [it is] purchased." Unfortunately, we're no closer to being able to clone the consoles in order to meet the insatiable appetite.

Sales cease on Dell 3008WFP 30-incher due to "technical issue"

by Ryan Block posted Apr 12th 2008 at 7:56PM

Looks like Dell's run into some issues with its highest end monitor, the droolworthy DisplayPort-packing 30-inch 3008WFP. We heard it'd mysteriously vanished from the site with nary a trace, so we pinged the folks in Round Rock. This is what they had to say:

"The Dell 3008 monitor has been well received since launch and has been very popular with customers. In February we experienced a small technical issue with the product that has been long resolved. [Um, it's only April? -Ed.] Currently the monitors are on extended lead times and in order to manage demand, the 3008 is not available on dell.com. We are managing orders on a prioritized basis and hope to have the product available to all customers in the near future."

So there you go, down but not out. Expect 'em back, um, eventually.

[Thanks, Duane]

Microsoft drums up its very own Xbox 360 shortage

by Paul Miller posted Feb 14th 2008 at 9:25AM

The word on the street, nay, the word straight from Jeff Bell's mouth, is that the Xbox 360 is experiencing stock shortages, which could hurt sales for January and February. We'd already heard of Elite shortages, but now they seem to be more widespread. "You could say we misjudged demand," said Bell, head of global marketing for Microsoft games. "We're literally out of stock in many stores. We think this will have an impact on our sales." Apparently the 1.3 million Xboxen sold in December didn't leave many sitting around for the rest of winter, so we could be seeing shortages through February, according to Bell -- but they should be able to meet demand by spring. It almost sounds like Microsoft is playing hard to get like a certain other console we know of, but we'll bite our tongue until we can get a tearful confession out of Major Nelson. Or, you know, two straight years of stock scarcity.

[Via Joystiq]