A. They predicted high demand.

B. They are failing to satisfy said high demand.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist.

So they have effectively issued a running excuse? Interesting.

They predict to sell 13 million PS3s.

They are on track to sell over 13 million PS3s.

If they supply no more than 13 million PS3s, they will sell 13 million PS3s and meet their prediction.

Simple as that.

For example the PS3 sold 6.5 million PS3s last holiday season.

For FY2007 they sold 4.9 million PS3s, so about a third more PS3 sold FY2009 compared to FY2007.

For the last quarter of FY2007 Sony sold 2.2 million PS3s. If Sony would also sell a third more PS3s for the equivalent quarter that would mean they could sell up to 14 million PS3s for that fiscal year.

The PS3 slim got officially released in September 2009, so full year sales of the PS3 slim at this point track higher than 14 million.

I think all of them (PS3/360/Wii) will have supply problem these months...

The main reasons are as fellows...

1. Chinese New Year: PS3s are produced by Hon-Hai and Pegatron, 360s are produced by Wistron and Flextronics

                                   and Wiis are produced by Foxconn...all of their main produce plants are in China and Taiwan..

                                   And you know....there's Chinese New Year in Feb....there will be a long vacation...(about 9 days)

2. Worker Shortage:   Another problem is...worker shortage...these companies report that...they can't find enough workers

                                   to run the production...(30% of shortage) ...

So if the demand goes high in March or April..that'll be tough to meet the demand.. 

Lol.. that is not how mass manufacturing works. Sony has contracts with their OEMS/suppliers and these contracts are probably thicker than the bible. In 123456789 paragraphs these contracts (examined and signed by 12345678 lawyers) list exactly who delivers what, which quality, when and where to, and who pays what penalty for not delivering it and the penalty for not paying the penalty.. you get the point. Who cares if there are holidays or whether chinese worker slave #13746 at the assembly belt falls sick on friday 13th? That is not Sony's problem.

So for the umpteenth time: Sony (America) did not order enough stock for this final quarter (unlike the other Sony regions it seems). They got what they ordered and there is nothing Sony can do about it. All the products have been manufactured and shipped to their regions as per orders. if you see shortages now in America, live with it and hope that Sony (America) ordered enough stock for the coming quarters (starting April 1).

Do you never read what other people write or do you not understand what I wrote just above?

Once again for you: Sony shipped everything what they manufactured, according to the orders of all the regions. It is no different inside Sony than what you do: You order three cans of milk and you get three cans. Sony (America) ordered too few PS3s and now they have to live with it - end of story. The "production managers" did exactly what they are supposed to do: they organized manufacturing according to the orders of all regions. If you want to hang a guy, do it with the guy responsible for ordering products in America (which would be that tretton guy?). To be fair, had the guy ordered onlysay 10% more PS3s per quarter, none of these shortages would be seen.

God that's funny. XD

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)?