Gamers who want Wiis will still look for them no matter how long it takes to get 'em, but the average non gamer who is interested by the Wii might be over it by the time supplies are normal level.

well, if i read correctly, nintendo was looking for new partners in order to produce wiis, meaning they'll make wiis not only at their own factories but at someoneelse's. Since it's just a contract, they can probably stop it and go back to their normal production rate whenever the demand fails. So i don't think the "factories are not disposable things" comes into play. They're probably doing as much as they can to ramp up the production. it probably just takes time and when it's done, we should see some significant progress towards the end of the year.

not quite, benoit. Although Nintendo does outsource the production to other companies this doesn't change the situation much. No company is going to start producing Wii's if Nintendo can then say two months down the track "sorry fellas, not enough demand, we're shutting this baby down"

Nintendo will have to sign a contract saying they need so many consoles in such a time in order for the manufacturers to start producing. Although they could probably negotiate good terms since the consoles are selling like gangbusters and are likely to continue doing so.

Good point. Nintendo's at the sweet spot right now. They've launched at a mass market price and have excellent buzz. Longer term, they can get by on the 600-700k units per month they shipped in March.

not exactly. they spend their $250 for something else. I don't think that nintendo has to up their production as fast as they can, but i'm sure they're losing some potential wii owners because of those supply problems.

 Probably not, only in the short term, in the long term these people will come back to the Wii, especially around the next holidays and when the game library becomes dominant

When the holidays hit, will Nintendo be able to meet the demand then either?

 With the low shipments this month of Wii's, in comparison with previous months, I sorta' have a feeling that Nintendo is fleecing some of the Wii's--already-- to be readily stockpiled for the holidays.

Just a quick note:

Was down at my local shopping centre (Chadstone - in Melbourne, Australia) and picked up DragonBall Z for the Wii.

We must have got a decent shipment recently, because both ToysRUs & EB had *heaps* of Wii's for sale. I asked the lady at ToysRUs, and she said they had a "zillion" units.

Both stores looked fairly quiet - it is the first weekend after the back to school for kids here. I think the next 2-3 months are the quietest part of the year for game purchases as well (maybe until the holidays in June/July).

EB in particular had a HUGE sale on for PS2 titles - obviously trying to clear all excess (software) store. The deal is now "3 titles for $55" (about $40 US, when our sales tax counted). Most of the titles were old titles, many 2nd hand as well.

I would expect the PS2 to dominate sales here for the coming months.