Alarmo: Nintendo’s Latest Device Is a $100 Wake-Up Call
An internet-connected alarm clock is an odd idea even for Nintendo. But it's the sort of experiment that means the company continues to endure.
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- It’s 7 a.m., the sun poking through the curtains, and blearily I am awakened — not by birdsong, but by the barking of a Chain Chomp, a ball-and-chain-like recurring enemy in the Super Mario video-game series.
The sound grows louder until I stir. When I reluctantly get out of bed, Alarmo, the $100 alarm clock Nintendo Co. released out of the blue last month, bleats a Mario victory jingle. If I crawl back into bed, it will start to make noises again; and if, somehow, I’m still not up after 20 minutes, it will amplify the pressure and unleash something noisier and more persuasive, like Mario’s nemesis Bowser.
Over the years, I’ve tried all kinds of devices and apps meant to improve sleep, but this one comes from the most unlikely source. Nintendo dropped the internet-connected clock right when gamers and investors alike were on tenterhooks for any information about its successor console to the Switch. The hybrid console — the source of almost all of Nintendo’s revenue — is on its last legs, with the company on Tuesday further cutting this year’s sales outlook.
Alarmo uses motion sensors to track when you move and get out of bed, leveraging Nintendo’s library of titles ranging from classics like Zelda to recent hits such as Splatoon, to customize its LCD screen and the music and sounds used to wake you. “Simply by placing this alarm clock next to your bed, you can wake up in a pleasant or fun way,” the developers promise.
That’s the theory, at least. As someone with an affinity for Nintendo properties but who is decidedly not a morning person, it seems like the quickest way to make me despise Mario and Zelda would be to associate them with early-morning starts.
Alarmo has some curious tradeoffs, from the rectangular LCD panel that doesn’t seem to fit its traditional circular alarm-clock shape, or the lack of an AC adapter included in the box. Though it’s cute, it’s not very smart: The sensors can’t distinguish between me returning to bed or one of my cats jumping into the sheets. Unlike some Apple Watch apps, it doesn’t scan your sleeping patterns to find the ideal spot in your circadian rhythm to leave you feeling most refreshed when you wake. Once I realized I could just use the button on top of the clock to silence its repeated, futile attempts to rouse me, it was game over. And anyway, who is the market for a $100 clock that promises to improve sleep quality but comes in only one color (bright Mario red), unlikely to match any but the most primary-colored bedrooms?
Nonetheless, these kinds of wacky experiments are exactly what users love about Nintendo. And so far, Alarmo has proved unexpectedly popular: Initial demand was so overwhelming in Japan that the company switched orders to a lottery system, and the clocks sell secondhand for more than double the retail price.
It’s also just one of a series of unusual Nintendo announcements in the past month. Last week, the firm launched a Nintendo Music smartphone app — a veritable Spotify of classic video-game soundtracks for users of its Nintendo Switch Online service. True to form, it has innovative features — like the ability to seamlessly loop many tracks, such as the earworm that is the Wii Shop Channel music — but is also frustratingly incomplete, with many classic tracks yet to be added.
This history of innovative yet simultaneously (maddeningly) flawed devices is on full display at another recent reveal: the Nintendo Museum. The facility, located at the site of a former factory in its hometown of Kyoto, traces the company’s century-plus history, from its roots making playing cards to the present day.
For fans, it’s a nostalgia overload that endearingly celebrates not only successes but commercial failures like 1995’s disastrous Virtual Boy. Walking through the museum, I was reminded of limitations that stunted past devices, from the GameCube’s proprietary optical disk drive to the Wii’s underpowered processor.
Even the museum itself has been criticized for what it’s missing, with some clamoring for more information on more information on the company’s creators and designers, or insight into how its biggest hits came together. Nonetheless, tickets are sold out through February, and Nintendo has already restricted how much visitors can purchase at the gift shop.
One curiosity the museum highlighted is how the firm repeatedly returns to the same idea at different points in time: from 3D displays to motion-sensing functionality and attempts to integrate exercise into gaming. Alarmo, too, shows this trend: A decade ago, with the Wii U flailing and the stock price near all-time lows, then-President Satoru Iwata announced plans for a “quality of life” division, with its lead product a wireless device to monitor and improve sleep. Following Iwata’s untimely death the next year, that product never materialized; but it’s not hard to draw a line from that concept to the present day.
Alarmo and Nintendo Music seem like attempts to clear the slate for what will be a make-or-break moment when Switch’s successor is announced. It also indicates that Nintendo is becoming more confident using its intellectual property to entice consumers — and helping to double down on the online account that will be at the center of its strategy to migrate existing users to its new device, whatever it’s called.
And while a few weeks with Alarmo has yet to improve my sleep, being woken by Mario hasn’t dimmed my enthusiasm for what’s to come from Nintendo — even if the company’s not talking. For now, we just have to hit snooze.
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This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
Gearoid Reidy is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Japan and the Koreas. He previously led the breaking news team in North Asia, and was the Tokyo deputy bureau chief.
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Business NewsNewsAlarmo: Nintendo’s Latest Device Is a $100 Wake-Up Call
First Published:6 Nov 2024, 01:49 AM IST
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