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Xbox 360 Still in Short Supply
Spad writes "The Register is reporting that the Xbox360 is likely to remain scarce well into the spring, citing component shortages and a lack of manufacturing capacity. In an interview with USA Today, Circuit City said that due to the shortages they won't be promoting the console, as there's no point throwing resources at a product it can't sell. Microsoft had hoped to ship 2.75m consoles in the first three months, but are currently well short of that mark, having shipped a mere 600,000 units since its launch two months ago." Supply issues continue to harm the system's sales, moving back the Australia launch of the console until late March. Update: 01/27 15:19 GMT by Z : Despite these setbacks, Next Generation reports that Microsoft expects to ship their goal by the end of their fiscal year.
Too bad I don't want to buy one. My local walmart has had a couple premium 360 boxes sitting on the shelf for at least two days. Of course, I don't know which is more sad... that the town I live near is so small and poor that people can't afford 360 boxes, or that the town is so small and boring that there's nothing better to do than shop at walmart every day.
Anywho... I suppose the lesson learned from this is that if you really want to get the hot hardware, try looking in places where it won't sell as fast. If I remember correctly, the walmart strategy is to put a store in every town of 10,000+ people. So, if you live in a city, check the map for nearby towns that are just big enough to have a big-box retailer, but also more isolated and/or poor.
It worked for me when I bought a nintendo DS on launch day. By the time I decided to get one, most everywhere was sold out, but I found a K-mart in a smallish town that was a good 20-30 minutes from anything of interest (including the highway) and sure enough, they still had plenty to sell.