To the people who mentioned the PS3 stockpiling, that is clearly no issue for someone who wants a PS3.

To the people who mentioned it's good business you clearly didn't read my whole post.

To the others who mentioned that they need them for the time that Mario and Smash Bros. are coming out, wouldn't the people who buy Wiis now who want those games get them then if they had the Wii from now?

Also, there are a lot of people who don't have Wiis still and are actively looking for them. Are you gonna seriously try to convince me this is not the case?

It will be fun to read what happens during November and December. I wonder if they're going to sell out during Christmas, and how fast it will happen if that's the case.

Please don't tell me Nintendo stockpiling Wiis for the holidays is for the good of the consumer lol.

Tell that to the people who have been looking for Wiis for months or the ones that stood in line for hours months after launch or the ones buying them much more exspensively cause they are so rare (including me).

Definitely looking out for the consumer by preventing said consumer from getting said console now and instead making him/her wait for the holidays because Nintendo wants big holiday numbers.

I dont know if they are stockpilling or not.
But what i know is,a saw and know a lot of people who want a Wii since a long time now.
Im sure they will like have that this year...

Ckmlb, you make it sound as if they were not stockpiling Wii's, that demand would be met and people would not have to actively search for available Wii's?

Since you cannot prove that if they released those Wii's to consumers that demand would be met and no longer would be have to actively look for them, your debate is invalid.

Stockpiling Wiis for the holidays is DEFINITELY a good business move.

It's going to be sold out, I'm sure, both now and during the holidays. It's better for a few people to whine about not getting a Wii right now, then a shortage during the holidays. If there's no Wiis at the holidays, Nintendo will get some horrible press.

Nintendo can sell 2 million a month now, and continue to sell 2 million a month during the holidays...
Or they can sell 1.5 million a month now, and sell 3 million or whatever during the holidays.

It's the same amount of Wiis sold in the end, so it's the same amount of people with or without a Wii in the end...nobody's missing out on much right now anyway...holiday '07 is when the big games will all be out...

I think what some of these guys are saying is that Nintendo wants to win the holiday season. Yes a few less people won't get a Wii during the summer but during Christmas is when people will really want one. Also being the hot ticket at Christmas gives you free media publicity. The kind you can't buy. I think any company would do the same in Nintendo's place. It is good business strategy.

 While I would not (and could not) disagree that with-holding consoles is bad for consumers who want them now, I think there is an argument that could be made that it is for the benefit of all current and future Wii owners.  A publicly percieved holiday victory will only help shift more 3rd part support and will bring more games to the console. So there is definately some benefit to the customer.

Now with that said, that customer benefit is obviously not much of a priority for anyone who wants one now. And I think anyone making this argument would be hard pressed to show that Nintendo was doing it for any reason other than financial reasons.  But at the same time the financial reasons are extremely sound and will in all likelihood will result in a larger install base at the end of the console's life than it would without this strategy.

The reasoning is fairly simple, and I am sure I have stated it before, but for the benefit of those who haven't heard it I will restate it.  The benefit of stockpiling consoles until X-mas is two-fold. The first point is that people who want them now but can't get them clearly know what they want and are far less likely to go elsewhere than someone who is gift shopping during the holidays and probably doesn't know the differences or that there even is a difference. The second aspect of this is the Wii's ability to sell itself.  The anecdote of new gamer tries Wii, then new gamer buys Wii has been around long enough that I think it is hard to deny its validity.  With that concept it is easy to see that Wiis at christmas are going to sell themselves to aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas, and friends who are sharing christmas together and get a chance to see or try it. 

Ideally they could do both, and I am sure they would if they could, but at the moment it is clear that is not possible. So they have to do what is best for their company and their shareholders.  It is unfortunate that any company should be forced to choose between two different consumer groups when their product is capable of selling to both, but in this position they are making the sound business decision and to do anything else would be rediculous.  I'm sure that sounds callous to some but it is the way things work in the business world. 

On the subject of evidence that they are stockpiling, it is fairly substantial.

• Q1 Earning reports indicates the likelihood of an additional 2.5m consoles for Q3.
• Increased shipments to regions with large game releases.
• Increased FY08 forecasts are unmanagable without solid X-mas numbers.
• Parts orders increase without weekly numbers increasing
  
• This recent statement from Reggi (see the OP of this thread)
• Reports from Nintendo pre-launch indicated they would have 9-11m by end of Dec '06.

There are two factors at play here ... Nintendo grossly underestimated demand for the Wii, and Nintendo's conservative nature has prevented them from rapidly increasing production to meet demand in fear of over producing Wii systems. Building up stock of Wii systems is not surprising and displays an understanding on how this market works; between 40% and 60% of hardware purchases are made in November and December with the vast majority of them being non-delayable purchases.

Nintendo (from my limited understanding) continue to increase production every quarter but even if they supply an additional 250,000 units per month per quarter they're going to have a great deal of difficulty meeting demand in non-holiday months without creating massive disapointement in holiday months.

Basically, Nintendo could ship ever unit available today and probably nearly meet demand with the consequence of it becomming nearly impossible to find a Wii at christmas, they can make the Wii nearly impossible to find now in order to make it readily available at christmas, or they can make it somewhat difficult to find now and somewhat difficult to find at christmas.

ckmlb: This is a situation of damned if you do, less damned if you don't. Of course Nintendo will not always act in the best interest of their customers. In this case, regardless of the stock they put out now, it will have been completely sold off by holidays.

The problem lies in this: A holiday sale is more valuable than a sale now because it is much more of a denial of sales to the 360 or the PS3 than it would be now. I say this for a few reasons now. Look at sales now - neither the PS3 or 360 poses any kind of challenge to the wii ratio wise. However, around holidays, when sales pick up for all consoles, that increased sales will lower the ratio disparity, and mean the chances of someone not being able to find a wii and therefore buying a ps3 or 360 are increased. If Nintendo releases extra stock then, this will help to lower the effect of this problem, though obviously not completely.