New Wii SKU spotted

[Final-Fan]

Words Of Wisdom said:

Dolla Dolla said:

Care to explain why releasing a new color for the Wii would be foolish?

White is a very clean, very simple, very elegant color. Stronger colors like black are often considered more intimidating and sometimes less friendly. For example, are the walls in your house black? How about in any house you've seen recently? What color walls do you most often see in houses? For the simpler portion of the market of which color would make a difference, a softer color is a better choice. Does the consumer want the little white Wii or the large black PS3?

The next factor is similarities. Microsoft is riding high on the Wii60 idea and Nintendo is cashing in on it too to a point. Keeping the Wii and the 360 the same color reinforces this perception of two on one. Switching the color from white to something else puts distance between the Wii and the 360 that may not be beneficial.

Finally, it's another SKU difference. The less informed buyer will look at one white Wii much the same as another white Wii. Is there a difference? Maybe, maybe not. After all, they look the same. What about a white Wii and a red Wii? Oh the colors are different, what's the difference? Which is better? The customer suddenly has another dilemma in purchasing the Wii. The fewer choices the customer has to make and the easier it is to simply "buy a Wii," the better.

These are all marketing tricks and strategies. To an informed buyer who knows the differences between SKUs and prices, it may make little or no difference. I'll wager that not everyone is as informed as those who frequent this board though.

I'm sure my response was slightly longwinded, but does that answer your question?

These are some pretty good points, but I don't think that they constitute sufficient reason to avoid different colors, or black in particular, at all.  

Black is also seen as clean, simple, and elegant.  (That is, as long as it's not a dust magnet that scuffs as soon as you breathe on it like my PS3 -- but even that gets two out of three.)   I don't know about the "less friendly" bit but I will back up what others have said by saying that every last one of the many pieces of equipment in my main home entertainment center is black or dark grey and I didn't plan it that way at all.  Many of the walls in my house are white or off-white but there is also a lot of dark wood and dark brick, which is true of my friends' homes as well.  And I don't think color is anywhere close to the main reason Wii is selling gangbusters and PS3 is not.  

Microsoft may be benefiting from a Wii60 effect but I don't think Nintendo will until supply comes closer to demand in the States, and it won't be a big factor then either.   

As for color differences, this may indeed cause a certain degree of uncertainty in weak-minded consumers (who are legion) but I don't think that many people have trouble with the concept that they can buy a new car in any color they want (except of course a Model T) so I don't know why a second or third color option for the Wii would send them screaming for the hills, especially when five seconds with a non-idiotic salesperson will set them straight.   

Personally, though, mine's been wearing an NES-like skin ever since last Christmas.  Sometimes I almost forget it was originally white.  I think it looks quite handsome.