Xbox 360 - First Take Analysis
Michael Gartenberg of Jupiter Research looks under the hood of the latest Xbox, and--surprise!--sees more than just a video game console. Unlike the first Xbox which was released with already out-of-date technology, the latest incarnation, the Xbox 360, is a state-of-the-art computer capable of much more than playing Halo.
Microsoft has realized that if it wants to further software initiatives in the home, it needed to reluctantly become its own hardware OEM and create the market for the hardware necessary to sell software. As a common folk saying goes, “when all you have is a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail” and of course that is why the Xbox originally resembled nothing more than a low end PC with a souped up graphics than anything else. Looking ahead, in this regard it is important to note that while Xbox 360 is a hardware platform it is really a software play for Microsoft. In fact, Microsoft has long now adopted a traditional video game business model, where it publishes ALL titles for the platform and charges third parties a fee on each disc that they ship for Xbox.
But Xbox 360 is more than a videogame console. With links to broadband via it's built in Ethernet, wireless support, built in Windows Media connect and Media Center Extender and the potential capacity for large storage capabilities, Xbox 360 is clearly poised as a Trojan horse ready to invade the living rooms of Windows users everywhere and leverage their PCs as media hubs, their MSN messenger IDs and happily deliver PVR functions via Media Center, as well as music, messaging and other software services that Microsoft will happily charge for.
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