Hitachi drive supplies limit iPod mini production
updated 12:15 pm EST, Thu March 25, 2004
iPod mini production
Apple told Reuters that are the main reason behind the worldwide launch of the iPod mini: "Demand in the United States has outstripped expected supply through the end of June, the company said. Tight supplies of the hard drive at the core of the player forced Apple to delay increasing manufacturing until July, it said. 'We're actually consuming just about all the 4 gigabyte, 1- inch drives they make. As they make more, we'll get more,' said Greg Joswiak, vice president of hardware product marketing for Apple. Hitachi, which manufactures nearly all of the one-inch drives, expects to boost production to meet customer demand, Hitachi Storage Technologies Chief Executive Jun Naruse told Reuters earlier Thursday."
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
The Last Word (Laugh?)
Well, this establishes firmly that everybody who complained about the mini's $250 pricetag was wrong.
The simple fact is, at the current pricepoint, Apple can't make enough to fulfill demand, meaning that if anything (according to strict economic theory) they're actually charging *too little*.
Once they can actually produce enough (and it's not even their fault! Hitachi can't keep up with sales!) exceed demand at the current pricepoint, then they should (could) drop the price. Until then, they'd just be making the mini even less available than it already is.
Oh, the pain of popularity.