Sony PS3 Supply To Be Tight Over Coming Months

[thx1139]

drkohler said:

kowenicki said:
@drkohler

So you think that Sony main HQ in japn have no say in the distribution of its supplies? That they simply meet the demand of the regional HQ orders? No chance. There will be a distribution plan worked out in advance for each region. It will not be left up to region heads alone to decide that supply/demand, that would be too reactive and would make no business sense.

Huh? It is exactly as I wrote above (in several threads). Sony HQ and only Sony HQ has ALL THE SAY how it works. Every region head has to forecast its demands up in the food chain for every product, for every following business year . It is up to Sony HQ (the only place where the knowledge of manufacturing capacities resides) to cut/enhance/keep/kill/whatever manufacturing capacities  depending on the quantity of product all the regions order together.

For this fiscal year (ending March 31), Sony ordered manufacturing of 13mio PS3 units that will be distributed into the regions according to the final distribution order (determined before this fiscal year started). End of story as far as manufacturing PS3s is concerned for this fiscal year. If one region runs out of stock, tough luck. There is no way manufactured product for one region is going to be diverted into another region. (This is also the consequence of a crucial change done by Sony some years ago, when they switched from reporting shipped to reporting sold  - this "shipped vs sold" was actually a minor, unimportant point of the whole changes). You get what you paid for.

Now the question is open: Didi Sony (America) order enough product for the coming fiscal year starting April 1st (maybe)? If not, is it already too late for Sony HQ to intercept (possibly)? If Sony HQ intercepts and changes manufacturing capacities now, will there be a price penalty (absolutely certain)?

Yeah right.

You think that back in November and December SCEA couldnt get a good forecast what they would need in January-March?  Its not like they sold an outrageous amount in November and December that blew out projections.