Apple Inc (AAPL)

[spitsong]

neye_eve re: supply and demand

supply issues don't affect "demand". Supply and demand are pretty independent, with the intersection of the two at a certain point being the happy equilibrium.

I don't think this is a realistic assessment of supply and demand. For a fashionable item, low supply may actually enhance demand. Even for a commodity, low supply may increase demand. Some real-world examples:

Chrysler PT Cruiser. Limited Edition at first. Artificially low supply. High demand at first, spilling over into continued demand for a "prestige" item that only special people were able to get at first, even after supply is increased. This seems a fairly common practice in the automotive industry, especially for premium products. Think Mazda Miata, Plymouth Prowler, Dodge Stealth, Acura NSX, Corvette ZR-1, and now the Ford GT. All premium products, all deliberately released in limited quantities, which are hopefully insufficient to meet demand. The hope is that this will increase demand, which it often does (it also might reduce sales in some cases, if a substitute purchase gets made for lack of the desired product's supply -- this has happened to Apple many times). Of course, limited production also helps to keep costs and potential losses down, in case that particular car doesn't turn out to have such big demand, but that's nothing like the whole story.

On the other side of the coin, consider a commodity like gasoline. In 1973, gas suddenly became scarce. And people started lining up for it, even at higher prices, often much earlier than it was actually needed. Low supply caused increased demand, pretty much all by itself.

Supply and demand isn't just lines and charts, it's also psychology. And smart companies know how to exploit it.