 
| |||
|
 |
Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Iwata, president of Nintendo. |
| |
 |
Today, let me first talk about our new product, Wii, that we have just launched. To explain how new Wii is, please take a look at this. |
| |
 |
This footage is from the Wii.com promotional site Nintendo is operating. They are depicting the natural reactions of those who have experienced Wii for the first time. They start to show dynamic movements! These people have little or no prior experience playing video games, but the fact that they are enjoying themselves with Wii gives us the impression that we may be able to successfully expand the gaming population with Wii. What is common throughout the footage is that these first time players are showing wonderful facial expressions. —Looks like he scored a strike! |
| |
 |
Wii launch dates and prices in each region are as you can see on the slide. We launched Wii in the U.S. first, before Thanksgiving Day. We launched Wii in Japan only last week. Today is the Australian launch day, and Europe will be tomorrow. Nintendo aims to ship 4 million Wii hardware by the end of this calendar year and 6 million by the end of this fiscal year in March. |
| |
 |
In the United States, Canada and Latin America, in the 8 days from launch until November 26, approximately 600,000 Wii hardware were sold at retail outlets. Almost every unit sold through to customers. In Japan, 400,000 units were shipped for the launch date, but quite a few shops had to declare a sell-out the night before because of the number who were already waiting in line to purchase Wii. As a result, almost all the shops across Japan were sold out of Wii on the morning of the launch,.. Nikkei Newspaper wrote an article the next morning with a title that stated, "Nintendo's Wii sold out immediately and completely". |
| |
 |
These are pictures taken at the North American launch events. About 3000 people waited in line at Toys R Us in New York's Times Square, and there were 2000 people waiting in line in front of the EB Games near Universal Studios in Los Angeles. |
| |
 |
These are pictures from the Japan launch. A number of customers gathered the night before. At this Yodobashi Camera Umeda store in Osaka the shop prepared 2800 Wii hardware but, because more people gathered than the shop expected, they had to declare the complete sell-out in early morning, even before the early morning store opening. So, we were able to successfully launch Wii, and the people in the U.S. and Japan were eager to purchase Wii. As I showed you today, Wii is significantly different from any past video game machines. I would like to spend some time to explain how this unique console was born. |
|
|
  |