3 ms·

I honestly think the Xbox is their gamble on "the next big thing". I don't think it's about the games. I think it's about the living room presence. And in my

I honestly think the Xbox is their gamble on "the next big thing". I don't think it's about the games. I think it's about the living room presence. And in my mind that is Apple's next big battle, and Microsoft has a huge head start. Cable boxes are going to die/morph into the game consoles. If I had to make a prediction, I could see Apple and Nintendo working together on a competitor... But Xbox is just their entry into the next battlefield: the living room and tv.

zanny 13y ago
Here is the VC question: how are you making money off a box in the living room? Who is buying it? Why? What does it bring that a tivo that plays netflix and hulu doesn't already? Of anyone I know, they either have no cable (younger gen), where they just hook a computer into the tv to watch online content, they have cable and a tivo or provider DVR (mid aged families) or they are >60 years old, don't want anything to change, and can't learn to use a dvr even when I guide them through it (my grandparents). Who is your audience? Why? What value are you delivering they don't already have in their living room? How is that going to save your company? How is an xbox one, which, while not sale-subsidized by license fees like the 360 or ps3 were, isn't making you healthy margins but supposed to provide revenue generation?
- cglace 13y ago
  I'm in my twenties. Have cable no dvr or tivo and want an xbox one. Same with my brother who is in his twenties.
- late2part 13y ago
  The answer to your question is proprietary gamer content. There's a certain generation that will spend big money to have an ideal gaming experience, and a subset of that set doesn't like that on PCs.
  - zanny 13y ago
    I know the audience you speak of won't do this, but Steam big picture mode does solve that problem. Plug pc into tv via hdmi, get a bluetooth adapter or just use a corded 360 or ps3 gamepad, play games. You can even do that with a gamer grade laptop which also happens to be portable, albeit expensive. I see a full-os media server box plugged into the tv that can act as router, sync server, tv dvr, game console, and with miracast etc provide displays all over a home, but I don't think xbone is sophisticated enough to do it. Does it even support non-xbox gamepad input?
- JonFish85 13y ago
  Or it's the entrance to your home, entertainment-wise. How long do you think that cable companies are going to be putting these hideous, power-eating, under-performing boxes from Motorola / whomever in your house, which serve essentially minimal purposes. In my hypothetical future, game consoles replace those. Why have 3 pieces of hardware when you can have one (wifi router + cable box + xbox)? As TV changes over the next X years, I think Microsoft is positioned very, very well to make moves in this space. They have the weight to lean on the Comcast / Verizon / Cox / Turner / take your pick, and the technical ability to make things work. Looking further down the line, you can see a future where home automation is centered around your central console, another area where I think Microsoft could make some moves. In a sense, they could own the operating system of your home. But this is probably a decently long ways out, so who knows.
  - zanny 13y ago
    > How long do you think that cable companies are going to be putting these Well, as long as they are "free" and subsidized by bills. People like free, and cable companies usually give out the ancient hot DRM DVRs for free with subscriptions. I don't see people lining up to replace their DVR with an xbox (which isn't an actual replacement, it has no coax in or tv tuner). > Why have 3 pieces of hardware when you can have one Xbox doesn't have DOCSIS either. You can't put a cable modem in it. You maybe can use it as a router, but you can use anything with a land line ethernet plug as a router, or you could get a hotspot as a router. > you can see a future where home automation is centered around your central console I see this, but xbox one is so locked down, expensive, and it uses gamepads, not tv remotes. I don't see people keeping the xbone on as a media sync server, when you could buy a router with attached storage for a quarter the price.
    - JonFish85 13y ago
      In my mind, the end user wouldn't pay $400+ for the device, it'd have wifi and whatnot built into it. The content delivery system would subsidize the cost. And honestly the majority of the market could give a shit about being locked down.

zanny 13y ago

Here is the VC question: how are you making money off a box in the living room? Who is buying it? Why? What does it bring that a tivo that plays netflix and hulu doesn't already? Of anyone I know, they either have no cable (younger gen), where they just hook a computer into the tv to watch online content, they have cable and a tivo or provider DVR (mid aged families) or they are >60 years old, don't want anything to change, and can't learn to use a dvr even when I guide them through it (my grandparents). Who is your audience? Why? What value are you delivering they don't already have in their living room? How is that going to save your company? How is an xbox one, which, while not sale-subsidized by license fees like the 360 or ps3 were, isn't making you healthy margins but supposed to provide revenue generation?

cglace 13y ago
I'm in my twenties. Have cable no dvr or tivo and want an xbox one. Same with my brother who is in his twenties.
late2part 13y ago
The answer to your question is proprietary gamer content. There's a certain generation that will spend big money to have an ideal gaming experience, and a subset of that set doesn't like that on PCs.
- zanny 13y ago
  I know the audience you speak of won't do this, but Steam big picture mode does solve that problem. Plug pc into tv via hdmi, get a bluetooth adapter or just use a corded 360 or ps3 gamepad, play games. You can even do that with a gamer grade laptop which also happens to be portable, albeit expensive. I see a full-os media server box plugged into the tv that can act as router, sync server, tv dvr, game console, and with miracast etc provide displays all over a home, but I don't think xbone is sophisticated enough to do it. Does it even support non-xbox gamepad input?
JonFish85 13y ago
Or it's the entrance to your home, entertainment-wise. How long do you think that cable companies are going to be putting these hideous, power-eating, under-performing boxes from Motorola / whomever in your house, which serve essentially minimal purposes. In my hypothetical future, game consoles replace those. Why have 3 pieces of hardware when you can have one (wifi router + cable box + xbox)? As TV changes over the next X years, I think Microsoft is positioned very, very well to make moves in this space. They have the weight to lean on the Comcast / Verizon / Cox / Turner / take your pick, and the technical ability to make things work. Looking further down the line, you can see a future where home automation is centered around your central console, another area where I think Microsoft could make some moves. In a sense, they could own the operating system of your home. But this is probably a decently long ways out, so who knows.
- zanny 13y ago
  > How long do you think that cable companies are going to be putting these Well, as long as they are "free" and subsidized by bills. People like free, and cable companies usually give out the ancient hot DRM DVRs for free with subscriptions. I don't see people lining up to replace their DVR with an xbox (which isn't an actual replacement, it has no coax in or tv tuner). > Why have 3 pieces of hardware when you can have one Xbox doesn't have DOCSIS either. You can't put a cable modem in it. You maybe can use it as a router, but you can use anything with a land line ethernet plug as a router, or you could get a hotspot as a router. > you can see a future where home automation is centered around your central console I see this, but xbox one is so locked down, expensive, and it uses gamepads, not tv remotes. I don't see people keeping the xbone on as a media sync server, when you could buy a router with attached storage for a quarter the price.
  - JonFish85 13y ago
    In my mind, the end user wouldn't pay $400+ for the device, it'd have wifi and whatnot built into it. The content delivery system would subsidize the cost. And honestly the majority of the market could give a shit about being locked down.