Put me in the camp that thinks Microsoft has missed a great opportunity. No, not because they didn’t have enough Xbox 360s to go around. It’s already being reported that if they had had twice the number of systems they still would have sold out. I’m more curious what could they have done differently once they realized there weren’t enough systems to go around? Go back in time 60, 90, 120 or how many ever days it was when they realized: oh no, we are going to be short, what now?

Perhaps they could have put together a database of all shipments worldwide and made it open for anybody to be able to search. It could have been powered by MSN search (ding), used Virtual Earth (mapping and directions, ding, ding) and perhaps Windows Live (ding) for a widget to tie everything together. Talk about transparency!

Now the reality is that politics get in the way of this happening. There would be individual retailers bitching and moaning because the store down the street received more units than their store. So how would be the best way to distribute these Xbox 360s if there was only say 250,000 to go around the entire country?

Perhaps a set number could be allocated based on store Xbox sales volume? Distribution based on population?

The problem I see as customers is that we really don’t know anything about the distribution. We might get some general number, but nothing in the way that lays out what store is getting what units and when. Sort of like a FedX tracking system for new systems. This type of system if it existed would seriously refute that there was any sort of planned shortage because the information would be out there in the open.

As for the idea of sucking the people into the store so they can buy something else? Can’t speak for others but the only thing I spent was gas on launch day. I didn’t spend a penny at any retailer for anything, so they had a customer come into their store, find out they couldn’t buy what they were looking for and left. I wonder how many others that went on the hunt bought something else?

So if the idea is to get the mouse into the trap, it sure didn’t work in my case anyway.

Stop the whining
I have sort of resigned myself that getting an Xbox 360 before the New Year is going to be a challenge, which I’m looking forward to in an odd sort of way. No way am I going to pay over a thousand bucks for one on eBay, so now I have to figure out how to be at the right store on the right day (shipment arrives) at the right time, with using the minimum amount of time and gas.

I must admit, though, that reading some of these shortage stories others are telling about how they preordered many months ago and there weren’t enough boxes to fill their order until after Christmas? If that is what actually happens, then that definitely sucks.

Scoble says they are making them as fast they can. I’m not buying into this conspiracy theory crap that this was some kind of intentional marketing ploy. They launched early so they could get the jump on Sony, but I bet Sony is laughing over this right now. Also, they don’t really benefit by making this the cabbage patch doll of 2005, those who have the coveted machines do. Lastly, boxes in the warehouse are not being sold and increasing their installed base, so there really is limited value in creating this huge demand for something they can’t fill fast enough.

With all this said, if I’m unable to walk into a major retailer locally and buy one within the next 90-180 days then I’ll start bitching. In the meantime I’ll try and keep notes on the Xbox 360 space and see what others have to report/learn/find out so when we are able to buy one I can dig right in and start doing tons of cool stuff. And maybe even think aloud a bit creatively about how this system could be improved in the future.

Looks like I may own a couple of games before actually owning the system. Wonder how many others will share this same oddity?

Did this post make you go hmm?

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