Japanese punters get Coppermine trickle treat

After the flash-bang-wallop launch of .18 micron Coppermine processors three weeks back, the world+dog has waited to find where they can buy them. At launch time, as reported at the time, none of the biggest distributors in the world, including Ingram Micro, was listing the Coppermine processors for sale. PC manufacturers were complaining that Intel had generated demand it could not supply, while the company itself admitted that supply would be a "little tight" in Q4. Distributors and dealers were told that mobile versions of the Pentium III/.18 micron were unlikely to arrive in volume until the first half of next year. Most PC manufacturers are unlikely to launch 370-pin flip chip Coppermines until Q1 next year. By some quirk, the first place where new products are often spotted is the electronics-heavy Akihabara area of Tokyo. And now we can confirm that some shops have stocks of some of the 15 parts Intel introduced. According to Japanese reader Battlax, some shops in Akihabara now have limited stocks of the following parts: Pentium III/733, Pentium III/650, Pentium III/600EB, Pentium III/600E, Pentium III/533EB, Pentium III/550E and the Pentium III/500E. The Pentium III/666? No stock whatever. When we say limited, we mean pitiful. The total number of parts available adds up to 42 Coppermine processors for sale. That is unlikely to satisfy the pent-up demand for the parts, we'd have thought. No i820s mobos have yet appeared but we expect Intel is waiting for Comdex/Fall, next weekend, to make that hullabaloo. There are some pictures of the abundant parts here. ®