I think they are making just enough units to keep the price from being discounted. If you want one you can get one (get to store early ect.) so they arn't missing out on too many sales. Just my thought

I just see people mentioning a shortage but see no shortage. I am not sure what you mean by "he system went on sale for $249.99 yesterday and were all sold out in an hour?" I have seen them for sale throughout this year and they are in plentiful supply. I could buy 2000 of them. plenty of them here for the USA market http://usawii.moneysavecenter.com and plenty of them here http://wii.moneysavecenter.com for the UK market. Unless I am missing something, if that's the case I am sorry.

In some areas, the Wii doesn't sell as well. That accounts for Sandokan's not seeing short supplies of the system. all the Wal-Marts, GameStops, and EB Games in the sales district I live in can rarely keep Wiis in stock for even a full day. to put that in perspective, that sales district encompasses one major city, two large city's plus about a half dozen small cities and large towns. My guess as to the reason: Nintendo has no interest in raising the price of the system, nor do they have any justifiable reason to do so (system prices in stores are not base on availability, but rather cost of production and the technology used inside the system). What they DO have an interest in is keeping their system from bombing like the GameCube did. By keeping the system in short supply, they are able to increase the media hype for the system. They sell enough to make a substantial profit, without losing the hype that they get for having THE Hard-to-get Christmas item two years running. People want to try the new and innovative system they keep hearing about on the news; their reasoning? "If everybody wants it so much that the company can't stay in stock, even after a year of production, it MUST be a great system!" Brilliant marketing work, I must say. And it's working very well.