One of the things I've been thinking about has been that of this year's "Most Wanted" Products.
- Nintendo Wii
It's been more than an year, and the Nintendo Wii is still flying off the shelves, and still as difficult as it was a year ago to find. Why is it so hard to find one this holiday season? Because while a normal product cycle has Nintendo stockpiling supplies beginning in August, this year's sales of the Wii has had the Nintendo warehouses empty of console units, as retail orders were filled. Nintendo games like Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Super Mario Galaxy definitely helped the new console's game library, which, prior to this year consisted of few "must-have" games.
- iPhone
While there's some discussion of a new 3G iPhone on the way in 2008 , this should not be a surprise -- there's always a newer phone, and a newer product due from Apple, but this version 1.0 product has quickly become one of the most talked about products of the year. I know of no other product this year that had people lining up for days in advance, in order to own the iPhone. When Apple announced the iPod Touch, which looked very similar to the iPhone in terms of shape and size, I wondered if the iPod Touch would cannibalize sales of the iPhone. Amazingly, it seems that while the iPod Touch is a beautiful device, people would rather have an iPhone (and have the added camera and phone capabilities), while the iPod nano seems to be doing a pretty good job of selling to the masses.
- Amazon's Kindle
Though I don't see the appeal of the Kindle, the new portable e-reader made waves last week when it was announced, and sold out in a few hours. I can see this device being good for a business traveler, or someone on the go, but without a larger selection of books available along with a better display and tactile feel to the device, it's not a product that I can recommend at this time.
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