Is MS drying up supply before a re-launch?

[Alby_da_Wolf]

ZenfoldorVGI said:
I think they did tout the HD-DVD player, and I also think it was dangerously close to being packed in with the 360.

And in another thread ( http://vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=18877 ):

DMeisterJ said:

We have all seen January's NPD, and have seen sales from America the past few weeks, and the PS3 has been selling more than the XBOX 360... but why? If we are to believe Microsoft, the 360 is having problems with supply, a la the Nintendo Wii, but why would shortages be happening now, two years after launch? It's not like it doubled sales from the previous year or anything, so where are all of the XBOX 360s at?

The answer? The "Ultimate" XBOX 360. The internet was all abuzz a few weeks before CES about Microsoft coming out with an Ultimate XBOX 360 with a built in HD-DVD drive, and Wireless. But before CES started, Warner Bros. put their weight behind Blu-Ray, effectively ending the "HD Format Wars".

What I think is that Microsoft may have been phaasing out the Elite and Pro SKUs and adopted a two SKU strategy, a la Sony, and have only the Arcade and the "Ultimate". I also believe that the "Ultimate" SKU would have been priced competitively at $400 to go directly against the 40 GB PS3. And now that HD-DVD has lost the format wars, they have to now go back to producing Pro and Elite XBOX 360s. This would also explain why Arcades are always in supply whenever you go to your local store, and the Pro and Elites are hard to find.

What do you think?

and

fkusumot said:

The rumor is Microsoft is having problems keeping up with supply because of ongoing issues related to replacement of defective console.

I think there could be more than one reason and I think that they could be the two ones that the three of you hypothesized: intense holiday usage could have accelerated the death by RROD of lots of old vulnerable 360's still alive and the sudden death of HD-DVD could have caught MS already producing and stocking them or in an advanced phase of conversion of top models' production lines to make them with by now useless HD-DVD's included.

It's not the only possible explanation, but it's one thad could explain plausibly what's happening.