Where are X360 Slim consoles?

There has been a significant deficit for X360 consoles in the last few weeks. The stock of X360 Slim 4Gb, X360 Slim 250Gb and their bundles with Kinect were so difficult to get that this has even pushed the wholesale prices for the X360 consoles up. This was especially unexpected since the prices for Sony PS3 Slim 160Gb and 320Gb consoles have dropped by a significant £50, and many would expect the prices for X360 consoles also decrease. Some explain the deficit by the fact that all the manufacture dates of X360s up until July 2011 have been recently hacked and can be modified, except consoles with the Hitachi CD ROMs. This has dramatically increased the demand for them, and Microsoft has not released additional quantities of consoles into market to cope with the increased demand.

May be in Microsoft they are right, and this is a smart move from them. Two major factors influence this decision to hold releasing more consoles in the market. (1)  Manufacturers do not earn much margin on consoles that they make, they earn on the games. If almost all the current consoles may be modified they will loose a lot on the pirated games, without earning much on increased sale on consoles. It makes sense holding manufacturing of consoles with the current firmware until they make an update that cannot be hacked yet. (2) Price drop from Sony on their consoles would have undoubtfully decreased the prices for X360, perhaps even below their cost, if there was enough supply in the market. Obviously it’s better for Microsoft to have the deficit on their X360 consoles. Until better times.