Nintendo Gameboy delay confirms Palm profit fears

Palm Computing's warning that its Q4 income will be hit by a component shortage induced sales shortfall was brought home today when Nintendo rang a similar alarm. The problem identified by Palm and announced last week when company bosses reported Palm's Q3 results is an industry-wide shortage of small form-factor LCD units and related display components as manufacturers struggle to fulfil orders from mobile phone companies. The same deficiency will hit Nintendo, the company said, to the extent that it may be forced to put back the release of the next Gameboy. Nintendo's schedule calls for the device to go on sale in Japan in August, with a worldwide roll-out later in the year, probably in time for Christmas. The shortage is also hitting Nintendo's ability to ship existing Gameboy models, the company admitted. Nintendo's news came after Palm's shares fell yesterday to below their original IPO price, though they closed just 25 cents above it, at $38.25. Most technology stocks have been dropping in price this week, thanks in part to the uncertainty in the market engendered by the guilty verdict in the Microsoft trial. However, the downturn hasn't been helped by Palm's profit warning last week. The downturn and the component shortages won't come as welcome news to Palm-licensee Handspring, which announced its plan to IPO last Friday. ® Related Stories Palm founders' latest enterprise to IPO Palm profits surpass Street 'spectations