Nintendo, oh Nintendo

I don't care what anyone wants to say, Nintendo is like a crazy jester that was backed into a cliff-side by all the sane citizens of the village. As he stands on the edge of this cliff, quietly wondering what he is going to do, he plays the same horn and tells the same jokes, hoping the townsfolk will accept him for who he is. The townspeople, bewildered, have compassion in their hearts for this jester. They want to nurture him, feed him, educate him and make them a part of their happy village, but every time they approach the jester, he backs away like a scared little lamb. They chased him to this cliffside as they desperately tried to reason with him, but now it looks like he wants to jump and nobody is sure what they should do about it.

Thats Nintendo. That Jester is Nintendo.

Tooting the same horn, trying the same cheap tricks, showing the same stoic confidence they always have while keeping that happy-go-lucky attitude with all their press releases. This is a company that refuses to pick up and move even when its obvious that the meteor is GOING to strike the town you've been living in. The WHOLE world is changing right now.

Europe is going bankrupt, Microsoft is re-hashing ALL of its products, Apple's stock price is in freefall for seemingly NO reason, the entire stock market is artificially inflated, the President of the United States is forcing a healthcare plan on a society that wants nothing to do with it. The Canadian Loony is worth more than the American Dollar, Japan's manufacturing bubble is popping, South Korea is about to get a bomb dropped on its butt.

EVERYTHING is changing right now. EVERYTHING and EVERYONE is adapting and moving and strategizing, fighting desperately to stay alive and keep things moving.

Everyone EXCEPT Nintendo.

For the last 25 years, this company has relied on Mario, a console every 5 years, a handheld every 5 years and a fanbase that refuses to let them die. That's IT.

Lets get one thing straight here. The fanbase Nintendo found with the Wii is a fanbase they will NEVER get back. I've personally talked to the mothers and fathers who owned a Wii. They are now obsessed with iPads and smartphones and all the cute 99 cent games they can find on there. In another 5 years there will be something else for them to obsess about, but it ain't gonna be a Wii or anything else Nintendo makes, unless they truly change.

I am going to sound a little crazy in this post. But hopefully you'll at least consider what I'm talking about.

Nintendo is actually competing with the biggest, most powerful, most influential companies in the world. These companies are putting strategies in place that make any single persons interaction with computers or technology an interaction with that company.

Microsoft got into the console business for the very reason that is happening today. Bill Gates envisioned a day where there would be a tv in every living room and a computer connected to it that fed content to the viewer. Thats what the Xbox does now and when they reveal the Durango in a month, thats what its going to do. In addition to that, there is Windows Phone for your pocket and then Smartglass to make it a tv remote. Windows 8 for laptops, and the Surface for taking to the office or to class. Pretty much anything you would call "technology" is a business Microsoft is now in.

Apple TV? The iPad? the iPhone? The Mac? All a single ecosystem

Samsung TV's? The Galaxy phones? The Galaxy Tabs? Samsung washers and dryers now communicate with their smartphones.

Google is doing the same thing. Sony is (poorly) doing the same thing. LG is trying to play middle ground by partnering with Google and just making good products in literally EVERY category.

But Nintendo, who makes ONE thing, is sitting in a corner doing the same thing they have always been doing. A console every five years. A handheld every five years. Make a Mario game. Are we seeing a pattern here?

Then again, amidst all the chaos right now, the only companies that AREN'T panicking are Apple and Nintendo. Nintendo is like the Apple of videogames, come to think of it. Both are innovative, bull headed, consistently stick to their own agendas regardless of what everyone else does, and both have massive cash reserves. Both are hated by many, faithfully loved by a few and survivors through dark times despite everything...and everyone else is panicking and second guessing themselves. Microsoft speaks for itself, and Samsung's great leader insists that the company must be in a "perpetually state of panic."

Corporate America and the financial gurus that manage it insist that if a company isn't growing, its dying. That if a market is penetrated it can only shrink and become unprofitable and so the day traders of the world look to the big boys for their ROI's. If you listen to the radio and tv shows and investor shows, tech companies come up more often than oil, because its a massive, lucrative business. Its a money-hungry power struggle in the world of tech and the big companies who have made it this far are fighting tooth and nail to win the approval of the customer and the investor, but mostly the investor. Because the customer doesn't do the hiring in corporate America. The investor does.

Nintendo and Apple, despite being massive financial successes in their time, and having to hear the cries and complaints of their customers and of investors in what they are doing wrong or right, just quietly smile, retreat to their offices after a hard day at the press event and go back to doing whatever the heck they want. And they always, ALWAYS make money doing it. Maybe they aren't as successful as company A or company B, but they're certainly never for want of their piece of the pie.

Nintendo, as a company, is the father and mother of video games. No matter what anyone else does, they know what they're doing, why they're doing it and what needs to happen next. Everyone else is going to panic and invest in market A or B in order to diversify "risk" but Nintendo is happy to do what it has been doing for the last 25 years.

I was reading a blog on IGN earlier today. The writer innocently wrote about the games he goes back to time and again every year. The games he just can't get enough of and can't wait for more of. He talked about why he liked them or challenges he created for himself on them. It was such a refreshing thing to read. Not just because of the description of simple, innocent joy that gaming can be, but because it brought me back to earth. I've spent my whole post-college career looking at profits of company A or B, while telling myself when I go to work "its not about the money. Its about the customer" and then I come home and criticize company A or B for not meeting financial goals.

Sure they've got jobs to do, but this whole stock exchange thing is only 100 years old. Men should do what they enjoy, find a single thing to be good at and do it for the rest of their lives. As an obscure song taught me just before I became married, "Decide what to be and go be it."

Oh, by the way. That blog I was reading? Almost every game that the writer mentioned was made by Nintendo. Much to my surprise, the comments that followed, the majority of the 900 of them (just a few hours after his post) were agreements from his readers, that they too kept going back to Nintendo games.

The father and mother of video games, despite being surpassed in sales and "market share" and "mind share" and competitors winning the love of the common "mature gamer" and "hardcore gamer," Nintendo still made the games that these gamers came back to after so many years. It was inspiring.

Maybe the whole world just needs to be more like Nintendo.

Disruptors

2013 is already almost half over. That thought is depressing in a way, because as I get older and stay busy, days seem to pass faster and faster. Its a fact that old people warned me about since I was little, so I guess I saw it coming. Its still overwhelming though.

Nonetheless its never too late to make a list. In the last couple of weeks I have been keeping my eye on some companies that are really rocking the boat of convention. In a way, they're actually going back to old principles. Lets get to it.

Company #1: Freedompop

Freedompop is an upstart that took their sweet time getting started. I don't know the whole story, but reports of them getting their service out seem to go back over a year, and they only just recently got their service rolled out. Nonetheless, its a huge deal. This is an internet company that is using a similar strategy to Clear, who provides hotspots at home and on the go for a flat rate every month. Freedompop one-ups that strategy by offering mobile hot-spots for sale (not lease) and just for owning that hotspot you get 500mb of data every month. JUST for owning the thing, which costs you NOTHING. If you get a hotspot meant for home use, you get 1gb of data per month.

It gets interesting from there because afterwards they charge (although very affordably) by the megabyte. I can't blame them because they're a business, and I can't argue with them because the rate they charge is still cheaper than Verizon or AT&T. But this solution is PERFECT for the grandparents that only use the internet for email. Its PERFECT for the student thats broke every month just paying for food and rent. Its PERFECT for the family that wants to take a vacation once a year but doesn't want to fork out a couple hundred bucks for some "convenient" internet solution.

I love it most of all because its one step closer to a more afforable internet. Not that its horribly expensive now but...I'm a cheapskate.

Company #2: T-Mobile

Not all that different from Freedompop, but this is still a big deal. In an effort to be fiercely competitive, T-Mobile is targeting the "affordable" smartphone market. I pay over $150 a month to AT&T for the cell phones my wife and I use. Of course we are in a two year contract as well, so if we are displeased with the service, we can basically just shut up and deal with it.

T-Mobile is offering unlimited data with no contract. Want the latest phone? Pay for it in monthly, no interest payments. WHAT!? That strategy is basically what I'm doing with AT&T. But if I do the same thing I'm doing at AT&T and take it over to T-Mobile, I will suddenly be paying $50 less per month AND have unlimited data.

How could I NOT be in love with that? People need to jump on this bandwagon (and I will too as soon as my stupid contract is up).

Oh and by the way, they also have the latest and greatest phones from Samsung, Apple and Windows. Yeah, thats a win.

Company #3: Raspberry Pi

Though technically not a company, it is a movement. Produced by Cambridge University and manufactured by Sony (if my research is to be believed) the Raspberry Pi is a little computer that costs $25. $35 if you want the internet capability (and who doesn't?)

This is huge for a couple of reasons. The guys making this thing only had education on their minds when they made it. I think that is noble and wonderful; but this is also a world where people do things with things that weren't intended to be done. Which is awesome.

The Raspberry Pi is intended for education, but it can just as easily be a computer for poor, a productivity suite for a small business owner, a spare computer for the kids to use. It is also a hobbyists' dream. Its a cute little device with a cute name that can be used for a million different things.

Personally, I want to use it to learn how to program and as a no-distractions computer for writing. Even buying all the stuff needed for the computer brand new, I can spend $150 getting this little guy up and running. Since I have a Best Buy discount, I'll spend $80. Imagine if I already owned a mouse and keyboard, with a monitor? Its a $50 computer, people!

Mark my words: We are going to hear a lot about this little computer in the coming years. This is the beginning of a movement.

There are other disruptors in the world. Aereo, Roku, Amazon with their Kindle. I might get to all of these companies and products in a later post, but I just had to get these three off my chest. I'm too excited.