It may be "easier" to produce, but they're already producing far more consoles than their competitors as well as having to use their manufacturing contracts to keep up with continuing demand for DS systems. It's not as simple as just saying "ok, let's build more!". You can say it's "easy to produce" all you want, you still need the factories to produce the chips (being "old" technology doesn't mean they're lying around) and for fabricating the consoles, localized for each region.
"Planning for shortages" is the silliest thing I've ever heard of and it's a terrible business plan (unless you're desperate for any press and frustrated consumers). Shortages DO NOT spur sales. That concept doesn't make any kind of logical sense. Besides, any first-year marketing student can tell you that a product in abundance moves much faster than the last item on the shelf (one reason why stroes front face their merchandise to make the shelves look full).
Consumers don't care about products that are hard to get. They care about products that appeal to them...be it from word of mouth (shortages kinda prevent that), advertising, reviews, etc. I have yet to hear of a person going "wow, that product is hard to find! I suddenly want one!" Also, consider your mention of the iPod. The iPod is successful because of its crushing ubiquity, not because of false shortages.
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It may be "easier" to produce, but they're already producing far more consoles than their competitors as well as having to use their manufacturing contracts to keep up with continuing demand for DS systems. It's not as simple as just saying "ok, let's build more!". You can say it's "easy to produce" all you want, you still need the factories to produce the chips (being "old" technology doesn't mean they're lying around) and for fabricating the consoles, localized for each region.
"Planning for shortages" is the silliest thing I've ever heard of and it's a terrible business plan (unless you're desperate for any press and frustrated consumers). Shortages DO NOT spur sales. That concept doesn't make any kind of logical sense. Besides, any first-year marketing student can tell you that a product in abundance moves much faster than the last item on the shelf (one reason why stroes front face their merchandise to make the shelves look full).
Consumers don't care about products that are hard to get. They care about products that appeal to them...be it from word of mouth (shortages kinda prevent that), advertising, reviews, etc. I have yet to hear of a person going "wow, that product is hard to find! I suddenly want one!"
Also, consider your mention of the iPod. The iPod is successful because of its crushing ubiquity, not because of false shortages.