Re:On Store Shelves? (Score 1)

Please tell me which of these two possibilities is simpler:

A) Microsoft concocted a deceptive marketing plan that involved creating a shortage and increasing demand, in which they needed to walk the thin line between generating future sales through increased demand and losing sales due to supply shortage. They enacted this strategy in the North American market with more or less successful results that remain to be seen and did likewise in the Japanese market with the result of failure.

B) Microsoft had an overarching plan to supply all the global markets, allocating 360's to each according to the demand they'd estimated. They had to determine their market allocations sometime in August or October so that they could begin packaging the boxes with the correct language and localization settings. They overestimated Japanese demand and underestimated North American demand.

I don't think the science of estimating demand is that accurate. Knowing how incredibly important it is to get a product on a shelf before Christmas doesn't give you a number.