A week ago the more powerful big bother of Microsoft surface tablet, the Surface pro, made its debut at Microsoft's online store and selected brick and mortar outlets. The tablet was a hit and sold out fast prompting Microsoft to announce that there is a shortage and that some of the customers will just have to wait. This of course didn't go over with too many customers who were looking forward to getting their hands on one.
Then when the Surface pro started popping up on online sites at highly inflated prices it started some people to wonder about the shortage. They wanted to know is there really a shortage? Did Microsoft hold back to drive the market? Are retailers hold back supplies? Did the people that re-sell items on auction sites snap up supplies to make money? Or Did Microsoft just misjudge based on previous sales of Windows-based mobile devices?
Anytime that there is a shortage of a product the obvious thought is that the manufacturer has just held back on supplies to create more demand. In many case, mainly in the non-technology realm, this has been the case. In this case though, give the low market share and mediocre sales of the Surface RT, it isn't very likely that Microsoft would use that tactic.
It has been common practice at time for retailers to simply holdback on stocking too much of one item. Usually though this practice is used when items are moving rather slowly in hopes that if they only put small amounts out people will buy them think that item is more popular than it is.
That online re-sellers are hoarding the Surface pro is a popular theory given that it has become common practice with other technology products. Over the last few years it has been common that when a new mobile device comes out it appears on mass at sites like eBay and other auction sites.
With new products or products with low expectations companies want to be on the conservative side and put out just a small amount to test the market. This could simply be the case here since Windows-based tablets have never done well in the market place.
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