RUMOR ALERT!! I know this will get T2k's dander up but some Gamestop/EB managers are telling those that did not get their units on launch day that they will probably get them by the end of next week! How is that happening?
http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=ps3daily&thread.id=34
Now I preface this with Rumor Alert so that T2k might possibly take this with a grain of salt. But, this makes sense. Sony did not start production of the PS3 till October 10th (I think they were waiting on the HDMI1.3 chips as they were not available till October 1st)! While the Blue Diode output is lower than the BluRay camp wanted it is stable and consistant. Sony built between 300,000 and 400,000 PS3s between October 10th and November the 10th. Give about 7 days for shipment from manufacturer to the actual store location and you have a production schedule of around 75,000 to 100,000 per week.
Now I say this tenderly, I have talked with managers at EB, Target, Circuit City and Costco and I get basically the same response. They expect some PS3s between Thanksgiving weekend and the first week of December. And they also expect to have more the week before Christmas. Now that is 2 shipments of PS3s in the nest 4 weeks.
Do the math, they are still producing Blue Diodes, the big BluRay guns are holding out their BluRay DVD players until next year (January - February timeslot) so who is going to get those Blue Diodes? Hummm -- maybe Sony's PS3?
Also, Gamestop's website has said there will be no more 60GB units for sale until after all the presales have been filled. Time frame -- within the first week of December! So, maybe Sony didn't deliver all the PS3s for launch -- maybe they held some back -- or maybe the PS3 is in constant production ever as I type this right now. If they can deliver another 300,000 to 500,000 units before Christmas this will not have been a bad launch at all for Sony. It will not be long and we will see if this rumor has legs!