In my process of tracking down a few links for a post on introducing ideas in an attention driven world I came across a post by Mark Pincus where he takes issue with Fred Wilson’s ruminations on the future of media.

In the post Mark asks/answers:

how many times do you ever watch a rerun of any show? you tivo the new series of the office, not an old ‘i love lucy’. the problem isnt that goog wants to charge $1.99 for it. free wouldnt help either. nobody is going to watch it either way, especially when you add the download.

I don’t agree with Mark’s statement, but that’s irrelevant. I share this to have an excuse to share some Nintendo news (yes, I have a love for Nintendo like I have for P&G).

Nintendo’s Wii sells old games from previous systems online through a virtual store. Players can download the original Mario Bros., Contra, Super Mario Kart, etc. The virtual store sells these games, available solely through download, for minimal amounts of money. With a cost to store/serve the games that’s negligible and sales of 4.7 virtual games to-date, Nintendo must be enjoying a hefty profit on the revenues generated.

With the recent chatter around the benefits of a free pricing model, I wonder where Nintendo’s virtual console profit would compare under a free, ad-supported, model.

• BROWSE / IN TIMELINE
• « Wallstrip / Feedburner
• » Gates’ Excellent Commencement

• BROWSE / IN General
• « I’m Back
• » Here’s to Kent Newsome