Gift Giving Guy

The Wii has landed! This Christmas, my wife and I chose a shared gift for each other: A Wii console with Wii Fit Plus and balance board. I first blogged about the Wii in November 2007 (thanks to Uncle Mark’s Gift Guide and Almanac). I’ve admired this innovation vicariously, playing on other’s Wiis. But with my MBA classes, I put the gaming console out of my mind. No time to play when case study analyses are due.

But I could not escape. As a breakthrough product, the Wii followed me to class. (Harvard Business Publishing even offers a case study.) Nintendo, now the fifth largest software company in the world, upended the gaming console market. The Japanese firm realized Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 targeted gamers — a “red ocean” strategy where rivals bloody themselves in a competitive market. Nintendo launched a gaming system with broad appeal — a “blue ocean” strategy that tapped a new and uncontested market. The Wii reached casual users who never would have picked up a game controller.

With one semester to go, my wife suggested getting a Wii this Christmas. Now we have Wii! Merry Christmas!