The ripple effects of innovation

By Tim T on November 23, 2006 - Comments (View)
Despite the hype surrounding Sony's PS3 release, not everyone thinks this new system is as great as it sounds. Tim Tang discusses the simple way to judge the difference between radical and incremental innovation.

Borrowed from marketreconblog

See also marketrecon.net

What is the difference between radical innovation and incremental innovation? The answer is not in the “HD DVD vs. Blue-Ray” war; it’s in the “Nintendo Wii vs. Sony PS3” story. Sony’s strategy is to pack more of the same in its next Playstation with an expected upgrade in CPU, memory, hard drive space, etc. It is meant to target “hardcore gamers” and of course, the prices will reflect this.

SONY PS3

Nintendo’s strategy is radically different. (See introductory video here)

The truth is you can make the comparison as qualitative, numerical, or scientific as you want. You can compare their prices. You can weigh the specifications. You can see the gameplay (this footage is from the game “Legend of Zelda”).

However, all you need to know is in this video, which compares the line-ups to try the consoles at E3 2006, an international tradeshow for the gaming industry. In short, the line-up to see and try Nintendo Wii has been 6 hours long.

For my Canadian readers, imagine going to Canada’s Wonderland and lining up for the “Top Gun” roller coaster on a sunny weekend in mid summer, 3 times in a row. This is the real market difference between radical innovation and incremental innovation. It is the impact of radical innovation.

The most interesting aspect of this is how a radical innovation could completely throw off your competitors, as suggested in this article.

NINTENDO Wii

With Nintendo’s new style of play, Sony is having trouble finding a response, so they cut their prices – before launch! While Sony has been hugely successful with their Playstation and Playstation 2 gaming platforms, it should come as no surprise when their marketshare in the console gaming industry shrinks.

But it’s not just gaming that Nintendo wants. Like Apple and Microsoft, Nintendo wants to be your home’s digital media hub/centre: photos and Internet. Home entertainment for the masses will change forever.

Like Google and Apple, Nintendo will become places where good talent wants to work. Expect to see a lot of them in the news in the coming year.