“Toshiba Corp. plans to boost capital spending on semiconductors for the current business year by 13 percent, accelerating plans to expand output of flash memory chips, a senior company official said on Monday. Toshiba will increase chip investment to a record 203 billion yen ($1.92 billion) for the year to March 31, up from an originally planned 179 billion yen, Corporate Vice President Masashi Muromachi said on the sidelines of a news conference. Toshiba earlier announced that it would move forward the production schedule at a new flash memory plant owned jointly with U.S. partner SanDisk Corp., citing a rapidly growing market for flash memories and intensifying competition,” Kiyoshi Takenaka reports for Reuters.
“‘When it comes to the supply-demand balance we are currently unable to satisfy all customer demands,’ Muromachi said, noting in particular the launch of iPod Shuffle by Apple Computer Inc. in January. ‘Demand created by this new machine is so vast that our current capacity can in no way meet their needs,’ he said,” Takenaka reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Not bad for a “one hit wonder,” eh? A lot of people must not know that Napster’s CEO thinks they’re “stupid” for buying an iPod. Please note that every iPod sold, whether it be an iPod, iPod mini, or iPod shuffle means one more iTunes customer and almost certainly one less for the also-ran WMA music peddlers of the world. Napster et al. are hating life even more today than they were yesterday, if that’s possible. No word from the iRiver or “Creative” folks, yet. There must be no phone service out on the ledge.
And, yes, when Napster folds, we’ll the the first ones dancing the jig on their grave – accompanied by iTunes Music Store-purchased music playing on our Apple iPods.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Napster CEO Gorog: ‘it’s stupid to buy an iPod’ – February 10, 2005
BusinessWeek: Rather than dismissing Apple products as fads, Dell should try starting a few – January 31, 2005
Dismissive Dell CEO not impressed with Apple Mac mini, calls iPod a ‘one-product wonder’ and a ‘fad’ – January 17, 2005
Creative CEO: Apple iPod shuffle ‘a big let-down, worse than the cheapest Chinese player’ – January 12, 2005
FYI, there were stacks and stacks of Shuffles at the Apple Store in Ginza this morning.
Keith, did they take 5 minutes to sell out, or 10?
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Qman asks, “Why is there a Napster ad on this page???”
Let’s face it, MDN needs $$ to pay for bandwidth, and if Napster is foolish enough to give it to them, why turn it down? It just pushes Napster a little closer to bankruptcy. I’d be happy to take some of Napster’s borrowed money, as long as I don’t have to give it back later.
The iPod has not taken off in Japan as much as it has in the states yet. Don’t get me wrong, sales are good but a basic element is missing. Namely ITMS Japan. There is a rumor though that there will be an ITMS opening for Japan in March and I hope it is true because that should help a lot.
Since Apple has been the underdog and now finally the tables are turned, MDN’s take is understandable. It is good to have the good guys finish first for once. At some point Apple should open things up a bit though. It seems like they are starting to do this more with the motorola deal. I also like it that Apple is all about supporting open standards and they should continue in this. Care has to be taken to not become Microsoftish.
“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 – 1900)
Wow. Apple does it again with another sold-out hit. If Apple buys all this flash memory at the quantities that the iPod Shuffle market demands then there is no way the WMA players can compete on price. They might as well forget about the portable music market; flash or hard-drive, Apple dominates.
The flash memory shortage is not limited to apple
the ipod fad will soon be over and we will see a whole plethora of flash based devices that will be cheaper and more functional than the ipod
I currently receive over 100 non-spam email messages a day during the week, and it’s difficult (if not impossible) to manage these messages, let alone respond to each one individually. Some people are amazed when I’m able to get back to them immediately, while others wonder why I never respond. What it all comes down to is the quality and complexity of the original email. If it’s something I can answer off the top of my head, I will. If it’s something I have to research, it might be a while. And if the email itself is vague or unclear, it may never happen. Sorry!
Here’s how to get your questions answered quickly.
Only ask questions to which I already know the answer. Just kidding.
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Be specific. Questions like Why can’t I reinstall Windows? or How come I can’t get email? are unanswerable.
Don’t ask a question in the subject line or leave the subject line blank. My spam filter tends to trap these types of messages.
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Use the right email address. You can reach me at thurrott@windowsitpro.com.
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What email address was that? thurrott@windowsitpro.com?
Just wondering if the javascript encryption is done by MDN automatically…. Anyway, I think there’s an “h” missing in the address.
Hmm … I guess not.
“There must be no phone service on the ledge”
Hysterical. Good form, MDN.
Anyway, I hope this means Apple is selling millions of these.
With Toshiba going public about their inability to keep up with demand… or rather that the demand is greater than their capacity to deliver…….wait… that’s the same thing.
Good, then, that Apple doesn’t have to take the heat for the back-orders.
Instead they can capitalize on the mystique of scarcity!
Email to customers:
“Would you like to add a Mac mini to your pending order while you’re waiting?”
Apple has a serious problem with the shuttle. I don’t believe there is any way they can meet the demand. My guess is that they’re behind demand by 750K to a million Shuttles. This is serious.
The iPod shuffle is a total failure. It has no FM radio. It has no display. It will be rejected by all who aren’t smitten by craven fashion worship. There is no way that the iPod shuffle can use up all of the NAND Flash production in the whole world. It is impossible I say!!!
When will the world learn, Apple is a beleaguered looser company that is going to die soooooon!!
brought to you by the word: “floor” as in can I get any lower
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Well shuffle my shuttles….