After topping the charts as the best selling console in January, Wii could make its way into 30% of U.S. households by 2011 according to Merrill Lynch analyst Yoshiyuki Kinoshita. In addition, Kinoshita believes penetration of Japanese homes could be as high as 33% where Wii currently accounts for 68% of the country's total next-gen market.Say it ain't so! If that were the case, Nintendo would bombard us every hour with press releases (in all caps, mind you) for any given Wii related story, not to mention the bigger ones. I can see the headlines now: "Nintendo bigger than Walmart," "Wii becomes mandatory requirement for sports therapy majors," and "Kutaragi promoted as Nintendo's assistant to the regional manager."
All seriousness aside, analysts are also challenging the belief that Wii is nothing more than a fleeting Tamagotchi type gimmick. "There has been a concern that the Wii was gimmicky but each passing month assuages that," says analyst Jay Defibaugh. Look out, world.
[Thanks, Falafelkid]
