HappySqurriel on 01 April 2007
Steve 3.2 said:
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 -- 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
I could be wrong, but I suspect that by having multiple manufacturers Nintendo puts themselves in a stronger position to ensure that their systems are being produced at the highest quality for the lowest price; if one manufacturer is producing them at too high of a price, or at too low of quality, Nintendo would have a lot more power to enforce their contract.
