Nintendo President Satoru Iwata gave the new target for the DS, which went on sale in Japan one week ago and on Nov. 21 in the United States, at a press briefing.
The company said earlier this week it had sold over a million units of the DS in Japan and the United States by Dec. 5. The device is about the size of a paperback book and with two screens, one of which is touch-sensitive
Nintendo said there were product shortages in both the U.S. and Japan and that it was starting to ship the DS by air to the U.S. to meet demand. Nintendo reiterated that it would launch the DS in Europe by the end of March.
It also stood by its target of shipping five million units by the end of March, but said it planned to boost production to 1.5 million units per month starting in April.
At peak periods, it said it would boost output to 2 million units.
Nintendo has been building interest in the DS over the past several weeks in an unprecedented campaign with television and outdoor advertisements featuring pop singer Hikaru Utada, as well as booths at which passers-by could try out the machine.
But it will face a formidable competitor when Sony Corp. ( 6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) launches its PlayStation Portable ( PSP) machine in Japan on Dec. 12. Sony is vying for a cut of the handheld game market, which Nintendo now dominates.
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