MS had shortages in December in the US only. Stocking up for 2011? lol that's a new one. where are they putting these stocks? 

I explained this earlier in this thread, not this set of comments though.  Just beacause you have "Shipped" an item from your warehouse, that doesn't mean that it is paid for.  Sure, if it is going to a really small customer, but not large customers(Best Buy/Target/Walmart/ToysRUs and maybe a Gamestop/Amazon).  Large Customers will hold LARGE stock levels, due to the Manufacturer (SOny/M$/Nintendo) offering the right terms.  Most of the time, these items have 30-90 days to be paid for.  Also, they will have inducements included in that to make it easier for the reseller to sell them to the end customer(rebates/credits for selling them or advertising tie ins).  So, if you think that just because they are shipped, that they are sold, your are off a bit.  As far as investors go, i agree that they look to Sony/M$ for guidance for units shipped, but NPD wouldn't exist if they didn't really want more info than that...

Sony counts shipped units and sold to retailers units separately. Those 6.3 millions units are not shipped units, they are sold to retailers units, that's why you're reasoning is wrong.

e.g. For Q4 2006, Sony reported 5.5 millions shipped units and 3.5 millions sold units.

I guess i will have to do what i hate to see on threads, but you will have to show me an actual statement from sony that provides detail to your point.  Especially in the last quarterly results.

Sales of hardware (PS3): http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/data/bizdataps3_sale_e.html .

Shipments  of hardware(PS3): http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/data/bizdataps3_e.html .

Sales (PSP) : http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/data/bizdatapsp_sale_e.html .

Shipments (PSP): http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/data/bizdatapsp_e.html .

You just proved my point...  Sony does not disclose actual sales any longer, only shipped units.  They are not the same.
They don't disclose the terms of the sales(of course) they just call all units as sold.

For those too lazy to follow the links, Sony reported shipments until Q4 2006  (31 March 2007) and started reporting sales of hardware since mid 2006. The numbers that are now provided by Sony are sales of hardware.

Quite the opposite, but you'd have said that I proved your point anyway.

For those too lazy to follow the links, Sony reported shipments until Q4 2006  (31 March 2007) and started reporting sales of hardware since mid 2006. The numbers that are now provided by Sony are sales of hardware.

No, I agree that they state them as sales.  My point from the begining has always been how you calculate that number itself.  This is really a matter of how they do their accounting VS. how they make a general reporting of sold units(again, without disclosing the real terms of the sales).  I have NO expectation that Sony or any company would publicly disclose their terms to their suppliers or to their resellers.  That's why the debate of sell through matters.  If a company ships a bunch of units to retail(example), accounting wise they mark them as sold units.  Now, on their balance sheet they move it to another line that is now waiting for payment.  So, they officially call them sold, even though they are not yet paid for(standard practice for any manufacturer).  The only reason that i even started this whole thing about it mattering about sold to consumer relates to the actual income from those sales coming later(even though accounting wise - the manufacturer can claim the profit right away).  So, all the way back to the top on this is that even though sony(or M$ for that matter) claims to have shipped/sold 6.3 million units that quarter, that doesn't mean that they have seen the income from them yet-which is what really matters from an investor point of view.  True enough, that in any case for any of the consoles this generation, the units would be sold through to the consumer by the end of the next quarter anyway.