Catching up with last week's papers, noticed a very interesting article in last Friday's Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com) on "why shortages of hot gifts endure as a Christmas ritual." The premise is that manufacturers don't mind running out of products to sell because that further stokes demand for the products they don't have to sell (some cycle, huh?). True or not, here's the list of the "legendary" products that have been in short demand in years past:
- 1983: Cabbage Patch Kids
- 1990s: Beanie Babies
- 1996: Nintendo 64
- 1998: Tickle Me Elmo
- 1999: Pokemon
- 2000: PlayStation 2
- 2002: Nike Air Force 1
- 2004: iPod Mini, Nintendo DS
- 2005: Xbox 360, iPod, iPod Nano
