I am pretty sure the obstacle may be moving the manufacturing off shore. I base that opinion on what Sony has done many times with their compact digital camera products. I have seen many Sony compact models released that were originally made in Japan, and then either one of two things seem to happen next... One is that the stocks eventually get depleted, and the model is discontinued. The other is that models start showing up made in China (usually identical in every other way).
The interesting thing is that with the latter occurrence, there may or may not be a lapse in the supply chain. I noticed that not long after I picked up a PRS-950 the other day, the stocks seem to be drying up. Best Buy and many on line retailers are showing them out of stock. My PRS-950 was made in Japan with a manufacturing date of June 2010.
It will be interesting to see if the future stock happens to be made in China. With the camera products, there are sometimes gaps in supply when this happens. Anyone else notice any changes in place of manufacture? Maybe the 350 is already made in China? Not sure about the 650, but the original 950 is definitely made in Japan.
P.S. I hope the missing accessories are related to better than expected sales. They do need to fork up some more covers (I like they way they work the best, especially the nice magnetic catch on the front and back).
Quote:
Originally Posted by porkupan
Well, those black ones sure didn't last very long, did they? No longer in stock on US SonyStyle.
It sure looks like Sony hit some major manufacturing obstacles. It's not entirely clear what it is, maybe they are getting screwed by PVI, who prefers to exclusively service Amazon. Plus, Sony's distribution channel is way too wide, and they seem to have trouble figuring out where the demand really is.
What's even more puzzling is the deficit of accessories (namely, covers). No hi-tech parts involved there.
|