Based on previous threads about the Switch, I know that many here believe that manufacturers "build them as fast as they can" and "would never limit sales".
Clearly there is some truth to those ideas.
Sure, a manufacturer will build them as fast as they can, but with the understanding that they would rather have no stock on hand than hundreds of thousands sitting in a warehouse. I think the Switch was a good example of this. Nintendo learned from the WiiU and decided it was better to be safe than sorry. Thus, the perpetual out of stocks. Microsoft learned this when they launched the first gen Surface tablets. Those things cost them nearly a billion dollars in write downs because they had tons of them sitting in warehouses.
Fast forward from the WiiU and the Surface and we have 2017. The Switch is released with little to no stock, and woosh! People can't stop talking about how hard they are to get and the Hype is made for them. Now, MS has the X1X and somehow, the "too expensive" console has sold out for pre orders. Clearly, MS has stated that this is a niche product, but how would they have so few that the presells are gone in hours?
MANUFACTURED HYPE! MS is basically copying the same strategy that Nintendo used with the Switch( I still believe that it was a well planned manufacturing delay) I do expect that MS will have more systems available when the holidays roll around than what the hype machine will have us believing. I would guess that there will be shortages for the whole month of November(building the hype). And then, all of a sudden, in early December we will see them popping up in most of the stores to grab those Holiday Dollars.
Between now and then, mysteriously, Amazon/Gamestop/etc will "get more allotted" to them and they will go back to available for pre-order. Thus continuing the Hype train every few weeks until launch.
We will see, but I doubt I am far off...
It is near the end of the end....