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    Comments on: Will Parts Shortage Hurt Sony's PDA?
Sony isn't alone. Palm has also been hit by the shortages, as we noted back in May, and the shortfalls are expected to continue for the rest of the year.
Detailed Comment View (4 Total Comments)
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. PIC is not responsible for them in any way. login or register for free in order to post comments.  Not a Conspiracy Theorist Myself
I'm sorry, I don't buy the theory that all the manufacturers of LCDs and Flash memory have gotten together to cut supply and raise prices. While I believe they might be able to fool the public I don't think they can fool the big companies like Palm, Compaq or Sony who are the ones buying these parts.
Furthermore, I don't think the PDA manufactures are in on the deal because they are losing sales and big money. Palm no longer has the best-selling PDA because they can't ship enough Vx's to meet demand. And Compaq's iPaq, despite being the best Pocket PC device yet, is about to fail because they can't ship any of the darn things. As this article points out, Sony lost nearly a billion dollars this quarter partially because they can't meet demand for their products and these losses are expected to continue. No, what's really going on is a HUGE amount of Internet-capable cell phone are being made which ties up all the production capacity for LCDs and flash memory. This is happening despite the fact that it hasn't been conclusively shown that people want to access the Internet through their cell-phone. But that's another topic. 
Re: IT WON'T
I think you are right but will Sony have enough units to meet demand? That's the question. There is a big difference between being on the market and actually having any units available for sale. I think Sony's PEG series will be back-ordered in Japan for a while and in the U.S. they will be in equally short supply until the Christmas season is over. Though you might be able to get the B&W version.
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Yesterday, Sony cut its operating profit forecast for the year by a full 10% because of a world-wide shortage in electronic parts. Demand for cell phones and other electronic gadgets has out-paced the world's supply of LCDs and flash-memory chips. This shortage might have an effect on Sony's ability to produce enough of its new Palm-powered PEOs, the 
IT WON'T
I had the same reaction with the whole "RAM shortage" several months ago. The market is becomming too consumer friendly for some and prices continue to drop. Next thing you know, "Oh, we can't lower prices because of the current shortage", or, "Because of the shortage we'll have to raise some prices."
This happens in every indusry and with nearly any big-ticket product. Are computer companies just not making *enough* profit at this point?