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[Dilbert]

The lottery suggestion wins.

This situation is really no different than people trying to get concert tickets to a hot show. Every local place had a wristband system for randomizing the "start" of the line, and they would sell in order until all of the tickets were gone. They would announce that wristbands would be handed out at (say) 8 AM, and there was zero advantage to camping out -- if you were there at 8 AM, you got a wristband and had the same random chance of being the first person to buy tickets.

Honestly, all of the people camping out for this kind of thing creep me out.

 

[Moderation Unlimited]

Yeah....sure, launching with like 1/3 of what they achieved with PS2's launch (1.5 million between Japan and North America and it still sold out with shortages in 3 days flat)....pure brilliant business there chief.

I'm not referring to explicit numbers here. I'm referring to why launch numbers are never adequate for bleeding edge technologies. Initial production issues and high COGs/unit (variable cost) play into the numbers released on launch. Even if Sony had the capacity to launch with 5 million units, I'd say they would more likely ship with only 500,000 to 1 million in the NA territory because the way manufacturing ramps up and takes into account QA, systems redesign, and process reengineering prior to full production capacity being utilized. We observed this with Microsoft and the X360. Why do you think there was dead time between initial shipments and steady supply. Supply shortages were one thing, but redesign/reengineering of the manufacturing process to improve quality is most likely what happened prior to full capacity production ramping up.

 

[sefskillz]

eh, i dont see it changing. this kind of stuff generates way more PR than anything else sony could do. every news outlet in the US is running a story on people standing in line. your 90 year old grandmothers are going to know about this 'playstation' thingy.

 

[bycha]

Pachter said it right there -- premium price for premium product. Sony should have made it available for $1000. There is at least 0.5M people in US who would pay that price.

 

[Chaotoroboto]

The console maker should sell their short and initial supply by auction where the top 200,000(or other number of consoles) bidders get a console. Continue doing this until they can actually meet demand and people who wish to pay no higher than the real price are willing to buy it.

Anything less is the console maker burning more money and pissing on it's ashes as other people get rich off it.

Yeah, there are a lot of ways to do an auction or a dutch auction that would allow Sony to actually make a profit on the first consoles shipped. The trick is getting retail channels to go along with it.

Include a manufacturer coupon for an accessory or a game paid for by Sony, to get people into retail outlets. Make it a buy one get one, or something like that.

I'd personally go with a tiered auction - the top ten bidders will get their consoles shipped first, overnight, and with a free game, at the cost of the lowest of the ten. Top hundred get shipped the same day and overnight, but have to go find a game. They pay the price bid by the lowest in the top hundred. Top thousand get theirs shipped immediately after the first hundred, but not overnight, and without any free crap (just coupons). After that, go in thousand person chunks until the price reaches the point you want it to be in retail. Maybe it'd take a week or two.

I don't have a problem with the lottery except for this: it doesn't do anything to get rid of eBayers. An auction is going to put consoles out of reach of lower income gamers, but 99% of the consoles will be going to the same people anyways, because the portion of lottery winners that are eBayers will be the same. It actually seems likely that there will be more eBayers because they can sign up for lotteries all over the place, and paying people $5 to stand for a lottery is cheaper than $100 to stand in line overnight.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

The lottery suggestion wins.

This situation is really no different than people trying to get concert tickets to a hot show. Every local place had a wristband system for randomizing the "start" of the line, and they would sell in order until all of the tickets were gone. They would announce that wristbands would be handed out at (say) 8 AM, and there was zero advantage to camping out -- if you were there at 8 AM, you got a wristband and had the same random chance of being the first person to buy tickets.

Honestly, all of the people camping out for this kind of thing creep me out.

Creeps you out?

I have to work an 8 hour shift with people living like hobos inside my department where I work !

Lotto all the way!

 

[Rorschach]

That will never happen.

I don't see any camping for the wii in my area. The local store that's getting the least amount of wii here is still getting 70...while they had only 4 ps3s. I'm betting I can just walk in at 8am or whatever and pick up a wii without much hassle.

 

[bill0527]

If I worked in the business units of either Sony or Microsoft, I'd make damn sure that we had our own auction system set up for the launch of the next system.

If people are willing to pay $1000-$3000 for these items, I'd be looking for options to get all that money in-house instead of letting that kind of cash flow between middle-men.

 

[Brannon]

My solution has never changed; wait until I can find it at a cheaper price and the kinks have been worked out. Why fight a line to pay $400-$600 for launch potential when I can walk in later in the future and pay much less for much MORE potential?

Unless it's the Wii, in which case I still won't seek one out, but if I happen to see it on a shelf while I'm browsing, I'll buy it, even if it's on launch day. Best price, best warranty, best quality, Nintendo games; more than enough to break the chains on my wallet even on day one if it ends up that way.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

eh, i dont see it changing. this kind of stuff generates way more PR than anything else sony could do. every news outlet in the US is running a story on people standing in line. your 90 year old grandmothers are going to know about this 'playstation' thingy.

ding ding ding! All these people whining and bitching about how terrible Sony is, or how shitty Best Buy is, will be back in line, camping out again at that same Best Buy, ready to give them their $700 once they catch whiff of the next shipment. Sony and their retailers are probably loving this.

 

[Jake.]

the solution? have some patience and wait.

 

[X26]

laws against stupid people breeding would do the trick

 

[border]

Nobody is interested in a solution. Best Buy wants you to camp. Sony wants you to camp.

Best Buy wants their stores to turn up on the evening news in 100+ cities nationwide. Sony wants stories about long lines on CNN, NPR, FoxNews, etc. It increases their profile and creates the perception of heavy demand.

There's probably 101 excruciatingly obvious solutions that will prevent camping, but none of them will create as much buzz as scores of geeks lining up in front of stores days in advance.

The only thing that's going to stop all this is lawsuits. Lawsuits from people that get sick sleeping in the rain. Lawsuits from people that get shot or beaten up over disputes. Once that happens, I expect all retailers will start acting a bit more sane.