If the few years I've spent writing about technology have taught me anything, it is that this industry is an exceptionally fickle one. One day yours is the gadget that consumers simply cannot do without and the next, you're old news. Just ask BlackBerry, Nokia and Kodak.
Had I written this column more than two weeks ago, the globe's largest video game company by revenue, Nintendo, would almost certainly have featured on that list. But how does a company that has had so many big success stories manage to falter? Let's just say, the Japanese multinational has had its fair share of ups and downs over the course of its rather extensive history.
Nintendo has actually been around since 1889, at which time it sold handmade playing cards. It may surprise you but differing varieties of these playing cards were actually Nintendo's meal ticket until the early 1960s. It was between this time and the late eighties that it found success via everyone's favourite moustachioed plumber Super Mario, a gorilla called Donkey Kong and the lovely Princess Zelda.
During the course of the 1990s, Nintendo gifted the gaming world with various iterations of the Game Boy; its second go at a handheld gaming console. While the Game Boy proved to be a tremendous success, with the dawn of the new millennium, the brand made a rather fantastic faux pas.
Looking to compete with gaming consoles released by its main rivals Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo debuted the GameCube. It was an epic fail and saw the consumer electronics and software company experience a sizable decline in market share. Nintendo was dubbed a commercial failure and desperately needed to make a move to catch up to its competitors.
Change is as good as a holiday
Another thing I've learnt during my time working in the tech space is that companies need to keep tabs on the latest trends. In fact, where possible, they need to be trend forecasters that respond to changes in the market before they happen. One of the biggest mistakes made by has-beens like Nokia and co was that they failed to evolve with their competitors and as a result, fell behind the pack. Easier said than done but an essential for modern tech success.
The recovery that Nintendo enjoyed in the wake of the Wii launch was described by some as one of the greatest business turnarounds in history.
Nintendo's answer to its market slump was to think outside the box. Literally. While industry insiders sounded the death knell for the embattled business - some predicted it would scrap its hardware efforts entirely - Nintendo was developing something that added a little something new to the gaming consoles of days gone by. With the introduction of a motion-sensing control, the Nintendo Wii was a real gamer-changer. The graphics weren't great and processing speeds were below par but the Wii gave gamers something a little different.
The recovery that Nintendo enjoyed in the wake of the Wii launch was described by some as one of the greatest business turnarounds in history; the Wii essentially brought Nintendo back to life. Well, for a while at least.
Over the next few years, Nintendo would falter again. That is until last week.
Enter Pokémon Go.
A world divided
Craze doesn't seem like a strong enough word to describe what has happened in the last few days around the augmented reality game that everyone is talking about. In less than a fortnight, millions around the world have downloaded Pokémon Go, making jigglypuffs and wigglytuffs commonplace in current conversation.
I must confess, I'm still undecided about this one. And I'm not the only one. Some reports have chosen to highlight the security concerns associated with strolling around with your eyes glued to your smart device; blissfully unaware of the goings on around you.
Others have argued that getting people out from behind their computer screens can actually be good for us - acting as a distraction for those suffering from depression and even helping people lose weight.
The beauty of the Pokémon Go concept in itself is that the company has combined our nostalgia for days gone by with new digital technology to create something that is actually pretty simple. Do I think it's a good thing that adults are having some fun in a world that can often be a real downer? Of course. Do I think it's a tad disconcerting that a friend of mine recently walked 3km in the wrong direction simply because he was chasing a Pokémon? Most definitely.
Either way, Nintendo isn't complaining. Its share price has risen 50% since the game's release. Whether it can translate this hype into a sizable amount of cold, hard cash - only time will tell.
Share