The Nintendo Wii could be the latest new console launch to fall foul of lower stock problems, despite an earlier promise that the console would be relatively freely available in the U.S.
Although Nintendo has not categorically stated a change in shipment plans, the company did retract a small part of an earlier press release which indicated that
600,000 Wii consoles had been sold in the Americas in just eight days.
This figure itself is not in dispute, but rather a sentence towards the end of the press release that indicated, "Despite spot shortages in some locations, well more than a million Wii systems will be available in the United States by the end of the year."
An update to the press release has been released indicating that the sentence “should be disregarded”. No further information was provided as to why the information was no longer accurate, but the obvious conclusion is that Nintendo is no longer confident of being able to ship that many units this year.
Although, again, no official statement has ever been made on the subject by Nintendo, the European launch of the console last week also saw less stock then expected being delivered. Many pre-orders were not fulfilled at the last minute, despite earlier assurances by retailers who ultimately blamed Nintendo for not providing as much stock as expected.
