Console Production Shakeup - Interesting Read

[Steve 3.2]

OriGin said: However, the section of this article that I find interesting is that Nintendo is in talks... or is trying to find someone to manufacture Wii's... I find that odd, if they were ramping up production capacity in April you would think that a deal like this would be long forged wouldn't you? Also interesting to see that Nintendo don't use their own factory for production of the units.

Thanks for the article. I know there have been reports about increasing capacity before, but this is the first time we've heard about another partner making Wiis. Just because Nintendo is looking for an additional supplier, it doesn't mean that Foxconn hasn't been able to increase supply. It's probably just not as much as Nintendo would like. (And a second supplier makes good business sense long term.)

The last time I heard a report, Nintendo was making over a million Wiis a month. At this rate, there will be over 18 million total by the end of 2007 -- the Gamecube sold only 22 million units over six years.

And it's not uncommon for companies to outsource production. Most of the laptops made these days are from contract manufacturers in Taiwan and China. Here's a great article on how Dell bucks this trend: http://news.com.com/Dell+bucks+the+notebook-outsourcing+trend/2100-1005_3-6134256.html