(no subject)
I'm going to consider the Xbox 360 launch a failure. Why? Because there are people with money in hand being turned away. No, you can't have an Xbox 360. Did you preorder? Yes? Well, you still can't have one. No, the only way you'll get an Xbox 360 before Christmas is if you are INSANE. Oh? You are insane? You like waiting six hours out in the freezing cold for a chance to get an Xbox? Well, just hope there aren't people who are more insane than you who got there seven hours early.
I think any time that you have to turn away clients, not potential clients, but guaranteed clients, you've failed. There are rumors that this shortage is fake, limiting supply on purpose to create demand. Take pictures of the line of 40 people waiting outside with a large SOLD OUT banner waving above the store entrance and you've got a press release. I don't think the shortage is entirely fake, but I definitely don't think it is entirely real. It makes sort of sense. When you sell an Xbox 360 to a guy who waited twelve hours at a Walmart, he's not going to go around talking about how that Xbox 360 sucks. He's personally involved now, and he'll be your biggest cheerleader.
Launch day is not the real launch day. Instead, it's kind of like showing Serenity to fans of the Firefly tv series. You'll develop huge word of mouth at almost no risk to your image at all. I mean, Firefly fans are guarranteed to enjoy the movie. They're still bitter that the show was cancelled and even if they didn't like the movie as much, they'll still pimp it because they were told that if it was successful enough, they'd make sequels.
With the Xbox 360 launch, only the people who are insane will be getting one. The rest of us, the ones with children or the children with "wait until Christmas" parents, don't get one. Let's face it. Compared to the guy who won't be having children because he froze his nuts off in the cold waiting for six hours really does deserve an Xbox 360 more than us. I mean, he gave up reproductive rights (probably a good thing) to play Call of Duty 2 a month earlier than everybody else. He deserves that Xbox 360. My problem is, there is always someone crazier, meaning that the Xbox 360 isn't just going to the crazy people, it's going to the craziest people.
I know what Microsoft wants. They want two months of free publicity as the news channels talk about the Xbox shortage and share the scary story of Soccer Mom which went to seventeen different stores and couldn't get an Xbox 360 and now her son hates her. People will be constantly exposed to the 360 logo over and over and over again, while free images of the 360's games play in the background of these news reports. It also guarrantees a sell through, as each 360 is released will be snatched up immediately because the paranoid consumers are afraid of never seeing one again.
But who really wins here? Certainly not Soccer Mom, who got in a fist fight over the last 360 in Target with Other Soccer Mom. Not the people who can't afford to waste entire days waiting in line. And definitely not the people who can and did. Not the people getting price gouged on eBay. Not the people walking away from stores empty handed. And not the people who preordered a few dollars short six months ago instead of seven. We, the consumers, lose.
And here's the kicker... all these painful experiences still don't change the simple fact that these people would've bought the 360 anyway. Whatever increase in sales this artificial frenzy may generate still won't cover the fact that there's people who would've bought the 360 anyway, but couldn't.
Me, personally? I guess I'll wait. I don't want to, but it's not up to me.
I think any time that you have to turn away clients, not potential clients, but guaranteed clients, you've failed. There are rumors that this shortage is fake, limiting supply on purpose to create demand. Take pictures of the line of 40 people waiting outside with a large SOLD OUT banner waving above the store entrance and you've got a press release. I don't think the shortage is entirely fake, but I definitely don't think it is entirely real. It makes sort of sense. When you sell an Xbox 360 to a guy who waited twelve hours at a Walmart, he's not going to go around talking about how that Xbox 360 sucks. He's personally involved now, and he'll be your biggest cheerleader.
Launch day is not the real launch day. Instead, it's kind of like showing Serenity to fans of the Firefly tv series. You'll develop huge word of mouth at almost no risk to your image at all. I mean, Firefly fans are guarranteed to enjoy the movie. They're still bitter that the show was cancelled and even if they didn't like the movie as much, they'll still pimp it because they were told that if it was successful enough, they'd make sequels.
With the Xbox 360 launch, only the people who are insane will be getting one. The rest of us, the ones with children or the children with "wait until Christmas" parents, don't get one. Let's face it. Compared to the guy who won't be having children because he froze his nuts off in the cold waiting for six hours really does deserve an Xbox 360 more than us. I mean, he gave up reproductive rights (probably a good thing) to play Call of Duty 2 a month earlier than everybody else. He deserves that Xbox 360. My problem is, there is always someone crazier, meaning that the Xbox 360 isn't just going to the crazy people, it's going to the craziest people.
I know what Microsoft wants. They want two months of free publicity as the news channels talk about the Xbox shortage and share the scary story of Soccer Mom which went to seventeen different stores and couldn't get an Xbox 360 and now her son hates her. People will be constantly exposed to the 360 logo over and over and over again, while free images of the 360's games play in the background of these news reports. It also guarrantees a sell through, as each 360 is released will be snatched up immediately because the paranoid consumers are afraid of never seeing one again.
But who really wins here? Certainly not Soccer Mom, who got in a fist fight over the last 360 in Target with Other Soccer Mom. Not the people who can't afford to waste entire days waiting in line. And definitely not the people who can and did. Not the people getting price gouged on eBay. Not the people walking away from stores empty handed. And not the people who preordered a few dollars short six months ago instead of seven. We, the consumers, lose.
And here's the kicker... all these painful experiences still don't change the simple fact that these people would've bought the 360 anyway. Whatever increase in sales this artificial frenzy may generate still won't cover the fact that there's people who would've bought the 360 anyway, but couldn't.
Me, personally? I guess I'll wait. I don't want to, but it's not up to me.