Component shortages are nothing new in the computer industry. I remember Intel having trouble shipping Pentium Pro processors, and the price on the boxed products sky rocketed as people tried to complete transactions. Product that sold for $400 quickly sold for $900. During that chaotic time, Tom Pabst (Tom's Hardware) purchased two boxed processors from us. Only one made it to Germany. The other one got through customs as an empty box. He was so angry because he had to drive to customs to get the product. Ah, the good ole days of the Internet and shipping overseas. In fact, I am working this week on restoring stories from 1996 onto the What Is New website so others can go back in time and laugh about the happenings of what seems like years ago. But I digress. Live in the moment is what my dog tells me ...
And in this moment, the latest shortage of components is once again from Intel; the Atom processor shipments are not keeping up with demand. According to Digitimes, ASUS faced these shortages in their sales of netbooks and sales for the first half of 2008 fell shy of expectations.
Asustek announced that it shipped 1.7 million of Eee PCs in the first half of 2008, 300,000 less than its original forecast. Some industry watchers explained the shortfall to delayed shipments due to the shortage of Intel Atom processors. Despite the present component shortages and gloomy economy, Asustek still aims to ship five million Eee PCs in 2008, according to company sources.
I hope they are able to meet their sales goals. Interestingly, Acer seems confident in reaching their goals because of an agreement between Acer and Intel. 15,000 units a day is nothing to sneeze over.
What stories of old do you recall? Maybe your story is just from last week, while waiting for the MSI Wind or you recall some of the great SDRAM shortages in the 90's.
