There was certainly no shortage of competition for last week’s huge Black Friday sales, but it looks like Nintendo and Apple are happier than many others.
Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said it was a record-breaking year. More than 500,000 Wii units were sold on that single day, making it the most successful Black Friday for the console to date.
And for the most part, the Wii didn’t even come with a special discount. Video games are historically excluded from Black Friday sales because even at the price they carry normally, retailers earn very little profit.
“We know that Black Friday and that entire week is a key selling week, and it is important for products like ours to have a jump in momentum, and we were fortunate to see that. For us, it really was driven by unique and powerful software and what gives us confidence is that we still have more software to launch in the balance of this holiday period,” said Fils-Aime.
Meanwhile, for Apple, Black Friday was also a killer day for iPad sales. According to analyst Gene Munster, from Piper Jaffray, the number of iPads sold on Black Friday 2011 was 68% higher than last year. Other Apple products like Mac computers, he noted, saw increased sales as well.
Those two products highlight a shift into consumer-friendly consumer electronics that has swelled over the last couple years. The Wii is compelling because it offers many accessible, easy games and the iPad is known for its intuitive interface that even toddlers have been known to grasp and understand.
Black Friday appeared to be a winner for many companies, from retailers to manufacturers, especially in the consumer electronics market. This is due to new technologies from a few years ago being more affordable and accepted in the mass market, as well as a slightly stronger economy than last year.
