first let me say that I do not intend to bash 360 in anyway,, a healthy competition between consoles is always good for us gamers.

Here we have microsoft claiming that they had shortage problems with one SKU and I do believe it is true ,,but the thing is so does 80GB PS3,,,That Sku is really hard to find anywhere(I had to call up 10 stores to find one),,, they are all sold out ,,,also the 80GB sells more than the 40 GB ,but we don't hear sony saying that we had shortages on one of our more popular SKUs.

here is the article that shows 80GB was outselling 40 GB

http://www.thesimexchange.com/news-item.php?id=17730

So why is that?why does microsoft think they have shortage problem but Sony doesn't?

Maybe, just maybe this is the truth about the shortage..
Microsoft planned to announce the elite to have built-in HD-DVD player in the immediate future. However after Paramount announced to support Blu-ray after they planned to announce it, they pulled back from that decision. And the HD-DVD built-in player got canned. Thus leading to a supply problem because the planned SKU's didn't hit the shops.

yea man I do believe there has been shortages,I was just asking a different question

There's no reason for Sony calling it a shortage (for that the model) because everything suggests the particular model will be discontinued.

Well, to be fair they do seem to have a SC problem judging by online search. On the other hand there seem to be a lot of Arcades in the stores.

Could be they misjudged demand balance between Arcade and Elite/Premium and made too many of the former and too few of the later... could be they did indeed have to can a new SKU with HD DVD (I'm sure this would have leaked if it was true, though rather than remained a rumour)... or they just got caught short for parts... or they have a new SKU (not HD DVD but something else) to release and want to clear channels a little (again though i think we'd have heard more if a new SKU was coming)...

As for Sony - better to just take the good news quietly I'd say. They often ruin there own good press but gloating all over it but I think they've realised that for a while all that matters from them is results and its best not make smart comments.

The other element that's unknown (too little data) is whether PS3 has been helped by BR all but being declared the outright winner in format war.

Oops! I guess manufacturers love to brag about shortages. And it's surprising Sony didn't put their shortage in the spotlights yet. Shortages are good news, it means your product is selling above expectations! It's one of the best PR they can give.

I somewhat doubt that MS would settle for announcing(/confirming) a shortage had they a new model coming in the immediate future. I think it would be more likely that they had even hinted in that direction if there was any plans for a new SKU or even new package deals.

I know it is being fazed out, but in Januray it was in shortage (I am one example of that ,,I had to spend 4 hours  calling stores up untill I could find one)

 well I guess what you are saying is that they did not claim shortage since they wanted to get rid of that model themselves,,which makes sense

Perhaps it's because the differences between the 360 models are well documented and advertised.

When consumers go to the stores for an 80gb, and there's none left, they just pick up the 40gb assuming it's simillar to the 80gb (excluding HDD).

I mean, didn't Madskillz say that his 40g had a Spiderman sticker over the non-bc disclaimer. Or something like that.

With the resources of a company like Microsoft I am a little sceptical about non-intentional shortages. AFAIK, the other 360 models overall eclipsed the sales of elite models anyhow.

I am also sceptical of a HD DVD equiped Elite rumour as well. All mass produced HD DVD drives released so far have been half the speed of the PS3's Blu-Ray drive and a HD DVD drive within the 360 would mean the HD DVD drive must be able to speed up considerably to achieve 12 speed DVD reading speed to not result in long loading times for non-HD DVD stored XBox 360 games, this because the data density is much lower on a DVD than on a HD DVD and especially compared to a Blu-Ray disc. One disc rotation equals for less data being read on a DVD disc.

For Europe the 360 seems to be overstocked, at least the pallets at local stores shrink much slower than the PS3 pallets. Also Microsoft doesn't have to allocate many units for Japan. This all makes me sceptical of their excuses.