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Facebook's IPO Debacle, Day 3: Un-Friended and Dis-Liked on Wall…This post is part of our Hottest Products of 2007 feature. Also check out our other Hottest Products of 2007 posts and let us know which product you think is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY)'s Wii gaming console was a non-contender -- an underdog -- this time last year. The gaming console with the funny name was set to launch with little fanfare compared to the Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3 or Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)'s Xbox 360, launched a year earlier, but the Wii caught eyes because it was priced at only $250, compared to $600 for the PlayStation 3 and $400 for the Xbox 360. But then again, it had inferior graphics and other downgrades. My, my -- how customers didn't care about its competitors' touted features and other fluff.
Why not, you ask? The Nintendo Wii featured the most innovative and immersive gameplay, regardless of the hi-def video or audio output and inferior graphics. Nintendo figured out that consumers wanted a newer kind of gameplay -- not photo-realistic blood and guts. As an aside, they designed the initial games and many others to get game players off those duffs and onto their feet, wildly slinging those Wii-motes through the air -- swatting tennis balls, slaying dragons and driving cars. The mass, mainstream consumer loved it, and so the age of Wii was born.
The Wii outsold both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 almost every month this year, much to the surprise (and delight) of Nintendo, and much to the surprise (and chagrin) of both Microsoft and Sony. Sony's PlayStation 3 was pretty much considered a bomb (probably due to the used-car price) back when Microsoft kept racking up Xbox 360 sales. But nothing could touch the Wii's sales prowess in 2007.
It just goes to show that engaging the consumer in a new and innovative fashion is way, way more important than adding a whole host of high-tech features to a new product and expecting to market that product based on those features. In a way, Nintendo took the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) approach to the consumer in 2007 with the Wii. What do you know -- it worked like a charm. A huge charm.
If you've had some experience with this product, let us know about it. Or if you know of something else that you think is one of the Hottest Products of 2007, feel free to tell us about that as well.
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
1-04-2008 @ 1:35PM
Lauren said...
I just had the pleasure of experiencing the Wii for the first time in mid-November. Then, I got one for Christmas! It it so much fun. We had company at the house for 5 days and they barely stepped away from the games. It was also a HUGE hit at our New Years party. I think one of the best things about it is that you are playing a game inside (which is normally sit on the couch and eat) and you feel that you are actually being productive. We have added too many 'other' games, but the boxing is enough of a workout for me...I love it!