Agree with you here.
Maybe, maybe not.
With the pricing as high as it is, would it be that surprising to learn they were purchasing the SSDs nearly on demand? Unless I’m mistaken, in the “Batch 3 Guild”, the “We’re preparing your shipment!” email that was shared talked specifically about having the inventory on hand to start fulfilling some Batch 3 orders. Maybe they were only talking about mainboards and computers, but perhaps it also speaks to their other inventory concerns? Meaning other parts, like memory and storage, coming in and out of stock.
Either way, I doubt that FW was committed to buying any memory or storage until after the first few batches sold out. Even then, is reserving components something FW has the ability to do, given that they are a (relatively) recent entry in the market and may not have the volume or history to warrant such consideration? And would FW really want that risk exposure, when it’s almost completely unjustified given the nature of their product?
For the RAM, since they collaborated with the manufacturer, you are almost certainly correct. They would have needed to commit to a substantial number of kits in advance. Though, when or how far in advance is something only FW and ADATA knows for certain.
This is really interesting. Maybe they were hedging against inflation, just to be on the safe side? That tracks!
This narrative has some merit to it, but…
This doesn’t account for two things: the price of the 4TB being nearly $600 (which might be close to the MSRP but also significantly more than it was going for at the time), and that even in the Batch 1 poll, 81% opted to bring their own SSD and 58% opted to bring their own RAM.
I don’t think FW would be surprised by these poll results, given this is their third or fourth rodeo (depending on how you look at it). I assume our numbers track pretty closely with those from previous releases.
If you work backwards from there, low demand equals low order volume, low order volume equals lower discounts, and lower discounts equals higher sales prices.
I should mention that (in case it wasn’t obvious) I have absolutely no idea what I am talking about. I just enjoy the mental exercise of figuring out how things might be taking shape behind the scenes. Someone with some actual experience in the industry would undoubtedly be more informed. If that’s you and I’ve spoken out of turn, my humblest apologies.
Good luck to all still waiting! Hopefully you won’t have much longer to wait 