Wii release earlier than expected?

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CNN Money reports that the Wii could arrive on store shelves well before the anticipated November launch. People have been predicting November, because this means the console will arrive at approximately the same time as PlayStation 3, which has a confirmed launch date of November 17.

However, several industry insiders are now predicting an earlier than anticipated launch for the Wii – some even pointing towards a late September release. The reason for the change in opinion is partly because of an analyst’s note from P.J. McNealy of American Research, which claims Nintendo is already manufacturing the final retail units of the Wii. Sony is yet to enter this stage, and Microsoft only began manufacture of retail units 69 days prior to launch of the Xbox 360.

“October is a reasonable timeframe,” wrote McNealy, and this is a view shared by other industry insiders who are expecting a September to October launch. Even if the Wii doesn’t arrive until November, the early start in production of retail units will help ensure sufficient quantities of the Wii are available at launch to meet the anticipated high demand. Nintendo has already stated it plans to ship 6 million units by March 2007, a figure which Sony is also targeting for the PlayStation 3.

So just how likely is a pre-November launch for the Wii? Well, it’s something Nintendo has done in the past. The NES arrived in the US on October 18 and the Nintendo 64 debuted on September 29. With calendar pages moving swiftly by, Nintendo will surely have to announce some concrete launch details soon, which, along with a date, will hopefully reveal the retail price of the console.