News · 3 Nov 2010 · MTW Editorial Team
Several reports are pointing at the recent shortages of Windows Phone 7 devices across the world (US launch is next Monday) but apparently no one really knows if this is because of a higher than expected demand or the relatively small number of devices manufactured and shipped to carriers and retail stores. Is Windows Phone 7 an early success or is something else going on? From the looks of it I would say that this shortages situation is principally caused by the OEMs and not some-kindof super high demand for WP7 devices. As far as I can see WP7 phones still can’t be bought unlocked in regular retail stores and are only available via mobile operators (retail availability is apparently going to be around mid-November). This clearly points towards a lack of stock. In some countries some carriers don’t even have devices yet which renders the situation even worst. Samsung is obviously having manufacturing delays because of the lack of Super-AMOLED screens that’s why it is fairly hard to get an Omnia 7 and HTC just messed up the whole thing thinking that they had the ability to launch 6 devices in such a short timeframe (Desire Z, Desire HD, Trophy, Mozart, HD7, Surround). Only LG apparently got things right and has the Optimus 7 widely available in each of the country it’s launching in.
As you can see there’s always a nice way to spin a bad situation into a “demand is so high we are out of stock” PR talk, but the fact is that there just aren’t many devices out yet and US residents should also expect the situation to be similar in the coming days.The Samsung Focus is going to be launched next Monday on AT&T and the HTC HD7 on T-Mobile but I’m not expecting the other handsets (Surround, Venue Pro etc..) to be on sale next week.
via: Digitimes
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