Hi I'm Mattia, I'm 17.
In my view, this article shows how Nintendo with its new console and games (like Wii Fit) is trying to reach a new blue ocean in the area of videogames. Reading this article, in fact, i remembered one of the main ideas of the strategy book "Blue Ocean Strategy" in whch it's written that if a company wants to reach a new market space, it needs to expand its demand beyond the existing one. To achieve this goal, as the book says, a company must attract the so-called Nonconsumers. Now, according to the book there are three categories of Nonconsumers, and in my opinion, that one Nintendo is trying to reach with its new ideas is the third; namely a category of consumers which has never thought to buy that specific product because it has never considered it as an opportunity. Personally, i have a Nintendo Wii even if my mother hates videogames and she has never been interested in them. Well, when she saw Wii-Fit on the Television, she exclaimed "What..?Can it really make me do physical exercise at home?" I answered yes it can.... Do you know what she said then? "Let's buy it".

That all sounds great but some of us still haven't been able to actually BUY one yet! Until they can make enough for everyone to be able to buy one what's the point to continuing to make new innovations?

in response to karen, that is just part of their success. instead of giving customers what they want and when they want it, a solid strategy is to make it somewhat exclusive so that consumers want it even more (retromarketing)- TY beanie babies are a great example and is referenced in an article entitled, "torment your customers:they'll love it" see this...http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/2586.html

whether or not this move was intentional on nintendo's part, i don't know. but, the excitement over the product still lingers.

Hi,

Such strategy by Nintendo is just "out of the box thinking"! They have effectively identify their "20" and capturing their "80"... if you understand the Pareto's Law 80/20.

Introducing Wii Fit show's how much effort they have put into in identifying the need in our social well-being and at the sametime making it fun. What more can u say? Parents around the world have complains that their children are facing "health crisis" ... look at kids in America and China. They are obese! Mixing up with "fun" in "exercising" ... what do u get?

Of course, there is a questionable point... how are these kids build social skills if they are at home having "fun-exercising"?

Could be another breaking discovery for Nintendo to disrupt the market of social skills with fun factor?

Ventures in non-competition can lead a corporation to losses. The trick is to find a gap between customer needs and existing supplies, and to fill them economically, with sustainable moats. The business process involved calls for teamwork across functions in a company, integrated seamlessly with customers. Nintendo wins because designers who think like customers. programmers with exceptional concrete intelligence levels, and brilliant hardware types, work together as a team. Microsoft loses because it has neglected this capability, with which it started.

Dear Mr Consultant

Please don't use such hard-to-understand jargon such as “competing against nonconsumption” to cheat your readers for earning your bread and butter.

In fact, what Nintendo has done is just a thorough analysis of users and non-users followed by deciding where to play and how to win the game!

Attracting nonconsumers requires not only innovative products which unlock the real need but also excellent marketing activities which bring the brand to life. I would be interested to know what Nintendo would do next to turn those new recruited users into loyal consumers for life.

Just wait until "Rock Band" comes out for the Wii with all wireless instruments (drum set, guitar, microphone)... And then wait until Nintendo bundles a Rock Band/Wii set that undercuts the competition. Such a combo for Xbox 360/PS3 is easily $500-$700 price range. The Wii will probably come in at under $400 if they look at the market and at nonconsumers like me. People like me who haven't played video games since the Apple II days (not enough time or motivation) will start living out their rock-star like ambitions at home.

A Wii/Rock Band combo for a lower price would catapult Nintendo past just about any thing out there, even if they lose money on every combo... It will be interesting to see how they decide to compete...

The Wii benifitted enormously from the frame-breaking technical invention of a controller that in essence, added a whole new untapped market segment of buyers: adults who purchase the game as much for themselves as their children. By eliminating the fear and confusion associated with just looking at a standard button laden conroller, the Wii opened the flood gates. Once that new and huge market segment became frantic buyers Nintendo continued their run of success by product extensions and games that accelerated that momentum. It was the perfect market storm of a frame breaking innovation, an untapped market segment with purchasing power and a compant swiftly stoking demand with a product array and huge fortuitous "buzz". For the first time, video gaming moved into "family fun" as well as the traditional kids' arena.

hello! i always appreciate your topics, hope you will share more.

Nintendo and Wii fit are among those innovations that really pull out the consumers into the open, letting them aware that there are new products that fit to their needs and lifestyle.

Nintendo captures a new target market or even a niche. Microsoft's X box and Sony's Playstation also have its own target market. The presence of Nintendo and Wii fit in the market, serves as a challenge or even a threat on the part of the leading or existing product. There will come a time where X' box and Playstation are being "overwhelmed" by the introduction of a new much better products and services.

this is how the innovation makes a greater sense in the world of business, specially in terms of survival and fighting back competition.

Thanks for all the great comments. There was a good profile of Shigeru Miyamoto in The New York Times on Sunday, explaining more about how his intuition and creativity has helped power the Wii to success. One of my favorite things to do when speaking these days is just to ask the audience how many people have a Wii at home, and then ask them how many actually play the Wii. It's really remarkable to see how making something accessible can expand a market. Today at lunch I observed four colleagues who are far from the prototypical video gaming profile discussing the Wii for a good 20 minutes.

It still amazes me how afraid many companies are of trying to reach the nonconsumers, or, to avoid consultant's jargon (sorry, it's an occupational hazard) the non-users. There almost always is opportunity for those who look, and act, in the right way.

Scott Anthony