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iPhone 5 supply runs short in India
The iPhone 5 officially launched in India last Friday, and just a day later, stores were selling out of their stock. Don't get too excited. Indian sources note only about 15,000 phones were made available for that market, so a sellout isn't too surprising. There were about 100,000 phones made available to India in the first month. An additional 200,000 are expected to arrive by the end of December. Those numbers aren't huge (I'd guess that several North American stores will sell as many in the same time period), but the point here is that demand is high around the world. The iPhone 5 isn't cheap in India. In addition to service and shipment fees, India's currency also plays a factor. The low-end 16 GB iPhone sells for 45,500 rupees, or about US$833 (as of this writing). When you combine those prices with the fact that these phones did sell out, there's a really big indicator of why Apple is so interested to get sales rolling overseas, and why it expects places like India and China both to be such big markets in the future.
Sports Fans Coalition intends to lobby against NFL blackouts
We know how it is, you have a big HDTV and inexpensive adult beverages at home and you just don't feel compelled to spend the bucks to go to the game in these tough economic times. We feel for you, but the NFL does not as your situation doesn't exactly pay all those player's salaries. Well, starting this Friday the Sports Fans Coalition, along with other organizations, plans to petition the FCC for change to the current blackout rule. The groups argue that since many of the stadiums are built with public funds, Joe Consumer has the right to watch those games at home. As is, we're mostly just glad the old NFL blackout policy, prior to 1973 that made all home games unavailable to the home market, isn't still in effect. Of course that doesn't mean that we believe the current blackout policy actually helps sell those $100+ tickets and believe the NFL might realize more profits if it sought out more modern supplemental revenue strategies.
Samsung says Galaxy Tab sales to consumers actually 'quite small' [update: misquote!]
When is a tablet sold not actually a tablet sold? When it's a Galaxy Tab, apparently. As The Wall Street Journal reports, those two million Galaxy Tabs that Samsung reported it had "sold" in the fourth quarter of last year were apparently not actual sales to consumers, but simply sales to distributors (which is a different matter altogether). Even more surprisingly, Samsung's Lee Young-hee further explained on an earnings call on Friday that so-called "sell-out" sales to customers were actually "quite small," but she wouldn't provide a specific number. Somewhat confusingly, however, she also later noted that while "sell-out wasn't as fast as we expected," Samsung still believes that sales to consumers were "quite OK," and that it is "quite optimistic" about 2011. Update: As it turns out this was a misquote, and sales are actually "quite smooth." Full details here.
Pixel Qi dual-mode displays sell out, in a good way
Unless you're in the music biz, selling out is generally considered a good thing just as long as you can restock, pronto like, to meet consumer demand. So we're sure Mary Lou Jepsen is roiling in her jollies knowing that the first batch of $275 dual-mode Pixel Qi displays have sold out after less than 24 hours of retail availability. You can pre-order now for a second shipment of the 10.1-inch reflective LCDs expected to arrive on MakerShed by the middle of next week. Until then, we patiently wait for the first-hand DIY experiences to begin trickling in.
Apple iPhone 4 pre-orders now sold out?
We have no idea how this happened given the insane problems Apple and AT&T have had processing iPhone 4 pre-orders today, but lots of people (including us) are seeing a July 2 ship date at Apple's online store, or about a week after the next-gen iPhone launches on June 24. Frankly, that's amazing -- we can only imagine the kind of sustained rush it took to cause a sellout of a product virtually no one was actually able to order. So that's Apple and AT&T both sold out -- at this point it's looking like standing in line somewhere come launch day is going to be your best bet, but we'll let you know if we hear any better news. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Rockstar hopes to solve Red Dead Redemption UK shortage by this weekend
Our poor, transatlantic pals living in the UK have been wracked with a pretty significant retail shortage of Rockstar's latest open-world opus, Red Dead Redemption. Fortunately, Rockstar Games UK boss Neil Stephen (the man so nice, they named him twice) has told VG247 that Take-Two has been working with UK retail outlets to remedy the supply issues, stating, "we believe the situation should be resolved by this weekend, so we'd like to thank everyone involved for their part in this." We're guessing Rockstar's solution to the shortages was to locate the rumored sunken cargo ship which dragged a few crates of the game to the bottom of the briny deep. If that's the case, we hope UK gamers enjoy finally getting their hands on copies of the game, and all of the barnacles therein.
Zune HD a major sellout?
Let it be known: we liked the Zune HD before it was popular, before all the poseurs jumped on the bandwagon with their tight-fitting jeans and their hairstyles. If various stores on the internet are to be believed, the Zune HD is selling out in a pretty big way. Amazon is listing a 1-2 month wait for the 16GB model and a 1-3 week wait for the 32GB, Best Buy has the player listed as "backordered," and New Egg shows "sold out." Microsoft's own store doesn't seem to be having these stocking problems, but we suppose that's to be expected. How about you, are you being kept from the Zune HD your heart desires? How does this make you feel? [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
$131k Softbank 823SH Tiffany handset sells out in three days
Recession? What recession? While many in this world are grumbling about a so-called weakened economy, at least eight individuals aren't hurtin' at all. Or, at least they aren't acting like it. The (very) limited edition Softbank 823SH Tiffany, which was offered up for ¥13 million, has sold out in just three days, proving once again that there is simply nothing too expensive for at least some folks to buy. [Via textually]
Nintendo moves over 170,000 DSi handhelds at Japanese launch
Nah, Nintendo didn't move as many DSi handhelds in Japan as it did DS units in America last Thanksgiving, but hey, the week's not over yet. Even in the midst of an economic slowdown, the Big N managed to sell through 170,779 DSis during the first two days of its Japanese launch. Many outlets had just enough stock to appease those that pre-ordered, and small queues were present in a variety of locales. That's a number that Nintendo's surely proud of, particularly since total Japanese sales of the original DS and the DS Lite stood at 23.6 million at the end of October, or about one DS for every fifth person in the nation. Who says a sleek redesign can't rekindle interest?
Wii Warm Up: Wii remains elusive
Just a little over a week ago, many of you were telling us that you were still Wii-less, but the numbers were seemingly growing stronger, so we found solace in the hope that the rest of you would soon be sharing in our Wii experience. However, it seems that the shortages haven't gotten any better at all, and demand for the Wii remains utterly and completely without bounds. Amazon restocked this week and saw the entire lot disappear in moments. While searching on behalf of a family member, we were told that at one smaller local electronics store (where there are never typically more than 3-4 customers at a time), they were still seeing weekly crowds that numbered from 50-70 people. For this area, that's a lot of people. How is it where you are? Do you hear random people talking about the Wii? Do store employees laugh if you ask about it? Are there still lines of people showing up at stores?[Thanks to Dolla Dolla for the tip!]
