Greed or sense?

[NinjabreadMan]

Desroko said:

NinjabreadMan said:

Desroko said:

Kyros said:

Name another console that has demand this high after 18 months, and I'll grant you the point.

How about another piece of consumer electronics...

I guess you can't, then.

It seriously amazes me that people are under the impression that increasing production is a matter of pressing a button or signing a check.

It's not as big a deal as some people seem to think either. Opening up a factory would cost money, probably a lot of money. It might satisfy their short term goals i.e. the next year, but not their long term goals over the next 5-6 years. Perhaps they believe that demand will not outstrip supply in numbers or amount of time to justify the knock to their profits.

I'm sorry, but you just revealed how ill-informed you are. Wiis are not built from scratch by Nintendo in one place. The work is subcontracted out to several different companies. These companies are usually small firms that need to sign long-term contracts to protect their bottom-line. Investing in new physical plant (or retooling existing capacity) is not a small matter for them, and it's not reasonable to expect all of them to have the capacity to ramp up production.

If any one of these companies has trouble building its widget, it brings the whole production line to a halt. If you want to find a new firm, you have to negotiate a new long-term contract (and if you're simply looking to increase production of an existing product, they're almost guaranteed to want to sell you more than you think you need), and wait for their facilities to come online, which entails training the workforce and building or buying new equipment.

In short: Production is a far more complex and delicate process than fanboys assume. There is no silver bullet.

How long did it take Sony to ramp up production on the PS2?