Threads like this annoy me because it shows a complete lack of understanding of business, not to mention some serious issues of maturity.
If they don't sell a product (Wii or iPhone) they don't make money. The more they sell, the more they make. Every purchase that someone can't make is money they miss out on. Advertising a product but not trying to sell it doesn't make good business. If they could, they would make and sell a billion units tomorrow. Imagine the bonuses the CEOs could make!
Shortages also lead to consumer frustration, and frustration leads to a lack of sales. If people are repeatedly unable to buy a product they are apt to simply stop trying. Hype is good publicity. Telling people they can't even buy a product isn't.
Nintendo has their factories at full production. They are making Wiis faster than when they came out because there is such great demand. The number of factories is fixed. They cost billions of dollars to build. Microprocessor fabrication is not a cheap business to get into. Nintendo has also admitted to moving more product in Europe/Asia because the US dollar is low. Also, there are still plenty of people buying up Wiis and selling them on eBay and Craigslist to make a quick profit -- you have them to blame in part.
The same holds for Apple and the iPhone. They released it in several dozen countries simultaneously. They sold a million units in the first 3 days -- it took several months for the first iPhone to sell that many units. Now you have a subsidized phone that has been released to an even larger market.
It takes time to build the product, and they spent some time building a stock before the release. That initial stock, I imagine, is depleted. They will still be building them as fast as possible, but the demand is still huge. They could have built even more units initially -- and released the product next month. That would also have annoyed people. If ordering wait is still under 3 weeks. Apple could have waited long enough to fulfill that level of demand, but no one would have one yet rather than just some people.
As for distribution discrepancies... Apple being the producer gets first dibs. They also have bigger stores with bigger demands than AT&T. Rather than compare a single Apple store to a single AT&T store, compare that Apple store to all of the AT&T stores in the same service area. AT&T has many small stores, Apple has very few large ones. I would guess that if you do the comparison that way it looks much more even.
As for hype; it really depends on the perspective. For the overwhelming majority of the population the idea of waiting in line the night before a cell phone comes out is insane. Remember, the level of fanaticism present on this board is no way indicative of the majority. Most people will go in to the store, see that it is out of stock, order, and not spend the next weeks complaining. They won't rant and rave that they haven't gotten their phone by day 4 of the 7-10 day estimate they were given. They don't see Apple and AT&T as "owing" them something for the delay. They see it as a product that is sold out. This is no different than any other product. Has no one here tried to order furniture, a car with specific features, etc.? There are many things that are much more expensive for which you must wait longer. Two weeks for a phone is hardly the end of the world.
