iTrackr now claims that the Nintendo Wii is at 39% availability nationwide. But what I found more interesting is that it said for my area 8/10 stores had the Wii in stock. I don't believe them so I decided to do a test. I've called all 8 of these stores.

First off they warn that Gamestop and EB Games are unreliable at feeding current data to their system, and being that 7 of the 10 stores were gamestop and EB Games, it hardly seems worth bothering with a test at all. But here goes.

Since it seems Target would be more reliable I started with them. There was 2 Targets in my area that iTrackr claimed to have Wiis. Upon calling BOTH Targets neither one had a Wii in stock. In fact you can tell how high the demand is in store by the fact that the store operator asked me up front without even me saying a word if I was calling about a Wii.

then I moved on to the 3 Gamestops, all 3 that iTrackr claimed there was stock in were upon calling sold out.

Now the 3 EB Games that iTrackr claimed had stock 2 had no stock, 1 didn't answer the phone so I couldn't check.

There you go folks 8/10 ended up really being 0/9(discounting the one that didn't answer).

Now there is one other factor here the little clock symbol next to each store, explains how old the status of the store is. 9/10 of these stores symbols were gray meaning the information is 10 hours old or older. 1 store updated no longer then 10 hours ago, that store was an EB Games that when called said they had no Wii in stock. Of course seeing that so many stores information was at the very least more then a day old, it's hard to trust iTrackr's accuaracy.

So my conclusion is iTrackr was not designed track a product that sells so quickly. They are either continually outdated, or they have a really poor system. And if the 80% in my area is really 0% then I'm sure the 39% nationwide figure is closer to 0% too. I conducted this test because people here tend to like to throw around itrackr numbers, we need to test how accurate they are if we are going to use them to make an argument.

you understand that you will be attacked by sony fans claiming that you are faking this right?

i've tested it before too when i was looking for a wii.  gamestop status is NEVER correct. well, never say never. but at least 99.9% of the time. :P  as for target, I tried that before too.  And as people have found out, what they do is stock up and then release it for the sunday.  So itrackr isn't really real time, but will tell you some information in which you can deduce whether a store will have it on sunday release or not.

39% I think is a representation that shipments are increasing.  On gamasutra, they have an article today about trying to end the Wii shortages in May with larger shipments.  Because the demand is enormous though, I think it could stay sold out through June, especially if Mario Party 8 takes advantage of Wii's socializing abilities..and the Wii-mote..

I wonder how they coud (possibly) collect that data in an accurate way

Well I just called my local Wal-Mart and they said they have Wii in Stock. So I'll be rushing there shortly to try and snag one. Funny thing is, iTrackr says there are no stores where I live, 0 out of 0 retailers, and not just for the Wii, for everythings they track. Guess they figure Alabama doesn't have electricty yet. 

This is very interesting. I was very confindent in itrackr data... I was...

Quote Brainbox LTD: Guess they figure Alabama doesn't have electricty yet. 

*LOL*.

I'd love to see the expression on Kwaad his face when he reads all this