Nintendo claims that a Wii machine will only sit on the shelf of a retail store for an hour before it is bought.
Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's President, told Wired that the Wii is still sold out in North America, 17 months after its launch. He said he was "passionately upset" about the lack of product to sell but production numbers have been determined by Nintendo's Japanese parent.
Fils-Aime said that North America gets about 40 percent of the 1.8 million Wii consoles Nintendo manufactures every month. He said that North America was unusual because supply and demand are out of whack. Japan and Europe had more than enough consoles to go around, he said.
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