Hidden at the bottom of an interview with the Ottawa Citizen, Steve Ballmer revealed that shortages of the 360 are partially due to a lower than expected yield on the chips used in the system. He explained, "... [with] devices based on new
chips, there's always the question of what yield will you get out of
the manufacturing process of the new chip. We're getting a little less,
but not much less than the yields we expected, and we know that the
yields we expected will probably outrun supply."There are shades of the PS2's launch here, when they had trouble manufacturing the system's RDRAM, resulting in shortages of a system that would have sold out regardless. Hardly the worst product launch to model yourself after, considering the enormous success the PS2 has had. They better hope those yields increase soon, or they risk losing the goodwill of everyone who won't be getting a shiny new 360 for Christmas this year.
[Via Next Generation]
