Sony declares Wii an "impulse buy"
By John Pospisil
Sony US spokesperson, Dave Karraker, has dismissed the Wii as an “impulse buy”, even as his own company blames the PlayStation 3 for its profit slide, and all indications are that the PlayStation 3 is way behind the Wii in terms of sales and buzz.
Is the Wii an impulse buy?
In an interview with the New York Times, Karraker said that because the PlayStation 3 was much more powerful than the Wii, it did not belong in the same category.
“Wii could be considered an impulse buy more than anything else,” he declared.
Karraker’s theory is that newcomers are buying the Wii, while the PlayStation 3 is attracting hardcore gamers. He also told the New York Times that Sony was selling out the 100,000 PlayStation 3s it was sending to the US every week.
Let’s put Karraker’s comments in context.
Nintendo has sold more than 1.1 million Wiis in the US since its launch, while Sony has sold around 700,000 PlayStation 3s.
Given that the PlayStation 2 sold more than 105 million units around the world, and is the most popular games console of all time, it is highly unlikely that Sony is purposely pursuing a niche marketing strategy.
To me it sounds like a PR hack trying to put a positive spin on a situation, which is anything but positive for Sony. I guess that’s what he’s paid to do.
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on Thursday, February 1st, 2007 at 9:06 pm
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