Not even a Wii bit of a price cut

[graylocks]

i had wondered a few weeks ago if there'd be a price reduction on the Wii before the holiday season. guess not...

[incognegro]

Why would they cut it, when they sell out almost immediately at current pricing?

Not to mention it's already the lowest priced console by $30.

(Xbox 360 Arcade is $280)
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5htBi...YpAve-3gug

[graylocks]

well, apple cut the iPhone, though i guess while wildly popular, it wasn't selling out. cell phones have a shorter lifespan, though.

[sekker]

the current inventory for wii's are still sold in less than one day.

the president of nintendo said they won't be able to make nearly enough even for this holiday season

one reason they are not uber producing these is they are playing a deep cat and mouse game with the wii hacker crowd, who keeps cracking the wii DRM Nintendo keeps engineering in their wii. By keeping the wii software rotating, then the cracked CDs only play on a small subset of the wiis Nintendo has sold in any given year.

[Carnos Jax]

I certainly can sympathize graylocks. It would be nice if they did a price cut. But from a business point of view, the fact that they keep selling out every time they become available should keep Nintendo from cutting prices.

On another note, I've heard that while the amount of Wii's available to consumers will be at an all time high this holiday season, due to consumer demand, they will be even harder to get.

I wonder what will happen to the fleabay market on these things come holiday season? It's incredible to think they're still commanding a $70 profit after fees and shipping (or so I've been told, and I'm assuming that means they were orgininally purchased online w/free shipping and no tax). Who would've 'thunk' this ride would last as long as it has?

Obviously the long term supply has been exceeded by demand, and Nintendo had only 'contracted' to make a certain number of units with the outsourcers?

[ADent]

I saw only my second Wii in the wild last week. They still seem to be in demand.

[MacArtist]

I bought one from a friend of ours for $200. Super clean; it didn't look like it had been used. Came with an extra game and controller.

It is definitely a hit in our house.

[eburgian]

A few weeks ago, I spot three in a local store. I tell the guy at the counter that I'm surprised they even have them in stock, and he just says "why?"

Guess no one told him that they were in demand.

If I were more of a gambler, I'd buy one and re-sell, but I just know I'd get burned on the deal and regret it, or the payoff wouldn't be enough to justify tying up the $ and paying the fees.

I'm surprised to see folks selling them on our campus intranet saying "I just don't have time to play it"

I would think the game manufacturers would be upset that there's demand for consoles that is going unfilled and as a result folks who would likely buy the games aren't because they don't have a console yet.

Or is this one of those situations were Nintendo actually loses money on the console and profits on the games so they don't want to sell too many too fast?

On the bright side, I can usually find the rental game in stock. On the down side, the games haven't really hit the secondary market yet.