Even if they wanted to "gauge" demand, why not launch in say September with a small initial shipment and see how demand is and then fill it out in November/December.

The way Nintendo handled this was just plain stupid.

After this the interest has disolved.

Is there some big shipment coming to this Xmas season?

I have the feeling the console would have sold like 3 times better if they had enough to sell.

Not bad considering the fairly lackluster availability. I wonder if after these sales they will ramp up production. They just missed the holiday season though, I can't understand their reasons in all of this.

Now the real question is, how many would it have sold if there weren't shortages? :p

Best Buy is getting a shipment of them on the 20th, according to their weekly ad. 

Consider this whole thing great advertising at least for Nintendo. Regardless of the sale of the NES Mini, Nintendo is on the minds of consumers right before they launch of a brand new system. I'm pretty sure that's where their focus lies. I also don't think (as this little poll suggests) that people will lose interest. Nintendo is a perennial product and the price of the NES Mini is reasonable enough for impulse buys. Expect it to sell very well throughgout the next year.

I think they easily could've sold triple maybe even quadruple that amount if they actually stocked the thing. I knew several people who were looking for one but couldn't find it so they gave up and bought something else for Christmas. 

Not interested as the games in there that I would have wanted to play I have already played before. However, that number seems like someone higher up low balled the demand, which is insane given they have been hyping this up since summer and retro gaming is something Nintendo of all companies should know there is a market for given how well their remakes, ports and other cash grabs sell.

A better stock of the NES Classic probably could have given Nintendo their best Christmas holiday sales outside of Pokemon since the glory days of the Wii generation. But this is what happens when you don't have the right people monitoring potential audiences.

It was a failed release. Nintendo can't help but get it wrong, even 30 plus years later.