Nintendo has posted a new notice on its website which reveals the company's plan to bring to the Japanese market more than 700,000 units of Nintendo DS Lite during the month of April. Nintendo was able to deliver 550,000 units of its redesigned DS during the month of March, an increase of 100,000 units over its original projection.
Demand has been outpacing supply since January. Nintendo did not anticipate the demand and also encountered manufacturing problems with the production of its new Nintendo DS Lite model. The Nintendo DS Lite was to appear on the market on March 2 in three colors - Crystal White, Enamel Navy and Ice Blue. However, in February Nintendo posted a statement indicating the Enamel Navy and Ice Blue would be delayed until March 11 due to manufacturing problems related to the colored dyes. People lined up in the thousands for the March 2 launch as well as the subsequent release of the two other colors on March 11. Most walked away empty-handed. Nintendo Japan even pulled its Nintendo DS Lite hardware commercials off the air for a period of time, in an effort to contain demand.
As production ramps up, Nintendo is hopeful it can satiate some of the demand.