PlayStation and Xbox 1-up Nintendo

PS4 controller

Sony has already announced its new console called PlayStation 4, and Microsoft has also confirmed to announce its next generation Xbox, for which the name has not been revealed yet but publications are referring to it as either Xbox 720 or Xbox Durango. Sony’s strategy for PlayStation 4 is to introduce a more game-centric model rather than focusing on applications, while Microsoft wants to dominate the living room by establishing  “a must-have living room…object, that everyone, gamer or not, will want.” However, this does not mean that Sony will not work on its applications or Microsoft will lack focus in their games. Both consoles seem to be different than each other, and each want to portray concepts and strategies that will give them a unique and a distinct recognition.

Despite these two leading labels, we cannot forget about another contender in the race, which we have been aware of from a really long time, Nintendo. Nintendo launched Wii and flourished considerably, heavily disrupting the stability of its competition at the time. Nintendo’s strategy with introducing creative motion controls in Wii helped them attain great popularity and profit.

After Wii’s success, Nintendo took a step and later presented another console, which was the Wii U, but it turned out to be a step backwards for Nintendo as Wii U struggled terribly in the market. People thought Wii U was just an add-on to the Wii instead of being a totally different console.

Additionally, there were more mistakes that led to this lack of success such as when the system came out, all the attention was given to the gamepad, or the tablet controller, of Wii U without showing off the box of the system at all, and when the box was shown, it probably was just confused with the one previously used for the original Wii as people thought they looked similar. Several games were created by 3rd party developers, and those games had already been released for other gaming systems before. During the launch, players were also shown using old Wii controllers as Wii U only comes with one gamepad. The graphics of Wii U had improved noticeably compared to the Wii, but did not meet the standards of the next generation systems.

Pursuing this further, Nintendo prospered with portable, handheld game consoles like DS and 3DS even when people were utilizing their smart phones and tablets. Nintendo also came up with entertaining games and innovative motion controllers for the Wii that attracted masses but unfortunately, failed to do the same with the Wii U. Overall, Nintendo has lagged behind with the development of its unsatisfactory product and strategy.

It seems as if Wii U may soon be out of the picture after PlayStation 4 and Xbox Durango hit the market. How do you feel about Nintendo’s future? What changes can Nintendo make now in order for the Wii U to still be able to compete well in the market when the next generation PlayStation and Xbox are released?

 

Source:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2013/05/06/if-sony-and-microsoft-find-their-next-gen-roles-where-does-that-leave-nintendo/

 

Boeing Dreams On

Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, which is supposed to be the most fuel efficient Airlines, hasn’t stayed in the skies for long due to its lithium-ion battery issues. Recently, the 787 Dreamliners have had overheating battery problems in January due to which they had to halt services. Two of the aircrafts from Japan, one All Nippon Airlines and the other being Japanese Airlines, had to be grounded due to electrical fire in the batteries. Later, the entire 787 Dreamliner fleet was grounded totaling 50 planes, which has cost Boeing about $600 million.

Leading engineers and battery experts made alterations to the electrical systems. Boeing stated they put ten teams of about 30 engineers worldwide to fix the problem. The engineers covered the batteries in a stainless steel box. They redesigned the batteries to reduce the chances of short circuit. They installed new and higher quality batteries, battery chargers, and exhaust systems in order to help in the occurrence of overheating.

Boeing expressed that they went in great depths to discover the reason behind the problem; however, the quality control and maintenance sectors failed to detect the potential cause of the electrical fire. Furthermore, Boeing chairman and chief executive also stated that the repairs of these 50 planes will be finished by the end of April, and they will start deliveries of 787 in next month, May. He further asserted, “Our first priority in the days ahead is to fully restore our customers’ 787 fleets to service and resume production deliveries.” The plane will then be safe to fly, authorities have stated. But the question of the cause still remains a problem.

The Dreamliner has done good business, especially in Asia and the Middle East as they depend on long-range flights more and since the airline is made up of lighter weight composite materials and provides great fuel economy. But since experts could not untangle the enigma behind the fires, people may still be skeptic about trusting the safety of the planes. This could even result in people switching to planes with conventional technology rather than the innovative, yet malfunctioning 787s, which can highly damage Dreamliner’s predicted sales.

Moreover, Larry Loftis vice president and general manager of the 787 program mentioned that there is a possibility that they may never be able to find the real cause. Nonetheless, he declared that this calamity will not impact the expansion of other jets and “would not derail Boeing’s plans to double 787 production to 10 a month by the end of the year.” He even announced that this will also not postpone the upcoming edition of the 787, known as 787-9.

With that said, how would this affect the time ahead for 787? How would this tarnish its image and hurt future sales?  Should they alter their forecasted sales due to this incident?

 

Sources:

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/dreamliner-set-fly-week-boeing-fixes-battery-6C9542306

http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/19/news/economy/boeing-dreamliner/index.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/apr/24/boeing-787-dreamliner-repairs-completed-may

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/apr/22/boeing-repairs-dreamliner-batteries