No Blu-ray for XBOX360

Despite Microsoft's vehement assertions to the contrary, the rumour that a Blu-ray drive for XBOX360 would be released continues to have legs. Maybe this will put an end to it:

RetailBRIDGE: Xbox 360 Won't Support Blu-ray, Microsoft Says

"Xbox is not currently in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray Association to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience," Aaron Greenberg, group program manager for the Xbox 360, told Reuters this week, emphasizing the fact that theirs is "the only console offering digital distribution of entertainment content."

Downloads. It's all about downloads. All I'm saying is don't get too attached to your optical discs, okay?

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Does ANYONE Think That Microhoo! Is A Good Idea?

I have yet to find anyone amongst the commentariat and the chattering classes who thinks so. If you have, drop a link in the comments section below and enlighten us all.

So far, the sheer mass of opinion, both informed and uninformed is that this is a bad move. The more I ponder it, the more it looks like Microsoft is trying to fight the last war (for search and ad supremacy), instead of working on something new, hot, and game changing.

As I said elsewhere, the Microsoft/Yahoo! deal was basically a great opportunity for those individual and institutional bargain hunters who snarfed up YHOO stock on the cheap when it was getting drubbed two weeks ago. That's great and all (and bully for you if you did it), but it's no sign of long term growth or strategic value.

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Visit PaulKedrosky.com For All Your Microhoo! Needs

Anyone interested in gaining further insight into the proposed deal between Microsoft and Yahoo! would be well behooved to surf over to Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed where you will find reams of analysis, conjecture and good old fashioned bloggotage on the subject by someone who clearly knows what he's talking about. Unlike me.

Enjoy!

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The Obligatory Blog Post About Microsoft's Yahoo! Bid

Bloomberg: Microsoft Offers to Buy Yahoo for $44.6 Billion

Microsoft Corp., the world's biggest software maker, made an unsolicited $44.6 billion offer for Yahoo! Inc. to challenge Google Inc.'s dominance in Internet search services and advertising.
The $31-a-share bid of cash or Microsoft stock is 62 percent more than Yahoo's closing price yesterday. Before today, Yahoo had dropped 18 percent this year in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, and this week posted a 23 percent profit decline for the fourth quarter.

Aside from the fact that apparently Microsoft just can't resist a bargain, if I had to distill this deal down to one sweeping off-base generalization (which is what most of you come here for) it would be this: It looks like a classic case of trying to tie two pigeons together to create an eagle. Neither Microsoft nor Yahoo! has so far managed to seriously impede Google's advertising hegemony. So how much better of a job can we expect from them if they're working together as Microhoo! ?

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Vista apparently doing more than treading water!

Or so Microsoft would have you believe.

TWICE: Vista Drives Microsoft’s Q1 Sales

Customer demand for Windows Vista this quarter continued to build with double-digit growth in multiyear agreements by businesses and with the vast majority of consumers purchasing premium editions, said Kevin Johnson, president of the platform and services division at Microsoft.

You would have thought that the launch of Halo 3 for XBOX 360 would have been a bigger success story, considering all the grumbling, whining, snooching, and bleeping from various corners of the technosphere about Vista.

But when Microsoft has turned in good looking Q1 numbers, it's still technically true to say that Vista "helped."

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New cut rate XBOX: Microsoft grasping at straws

It's rare that you see this much partisan negativity in a mainstream business news article.

Yahoo!: Xbox 360 launches Arcade model to challenge Wii

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Microsoft on Tuesday began US sales of a scaled-down Xbox 360 model billed by some analysts as a doomed bid to unseat Nintendo's Wii console as ruler of the casual video game market.
"It is squarely targeted at the Wii," Directions on Microsoft analyst Matt Rosoff told AFP.

I would love to make some snide comments on this, but the news story already has all the best lines.

"It is not even remotely close to what the Wii offers the market," Hickey told AFP.
"The best they can hope for is someone naive goes to a store to buy a Wii and there isn't one there so they buy an Xbox 360 Arcade."
Wii consoles with unique motion-sensing controllers are a video game sensation, appealing to families, women, seniors and other "casual gamers" that don't fit the typically young male "hardcore gamer" demographic.
Hickey described Arcade as a "clumsy" repositioning of Microsoft's Xbox 360 Core model minus a hard drive.

Casual gamers won't buy it, and hardcore gamers will mock it. What else is there to say?

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Quote of the Day

Dealbreaker's Joe Wiesenthal knocks it out of the park with this one:

Microsoft Updates Its iPod Competitor (NYT)

Ah, that explains the mile-long lines we saw outside of the Microsoft store the other day.

Sometimes sarcasm is a stilleto. Sometimes it's an axe.

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Analysts see soft Christmas for Nintendo, even worse one for Playstation 3

There are those industry watchers who predict that the sun is setting on Nintendo's upstart dominance with the Wii.

The Retail Bridge: Is Nintendo's Run At The Top Coming To An End?

Nintendo's Wii video game console was the surprise hit of the 2006 holiday season and spent most of this year at the top of sales charts and industry reports.
But, according to a pair of analyst notes released this week, the company's stint ahead of the video game pack may soon be ending as Microsoft's Xbox 360 is expected to roll through the rest of the year.
Why? The recent release of Halo 3 has more than a little to do with it."We believe Halo 3 will spur sales of Xbox 360 consoles and Microsoft should be able to sustain this momentum with a strong release slate via-a-vis the Xbox 360," Kaufman Bros. analyst Todd Mitchell wrote earlier this week.

On the other hand, industry watchers were wrong about the Wii going into last Christmas, so go figure.

To put a silver lining on that dark clound, they also think that Playstation 3 sales will continue to suck.

And so far analysts expect Sony's Playstation 3 to be little more than an also-ran this year, still suffering from the expensive console's overall lack of compelling content.
"Sony is facing a worst-case scenario this holiday season," Mitchell said. "Not only are there fewer titles to drive PS3 sales, but problems with major releases, such as Madden NFL 08 and Lair, show developers are still having a difficult time with the platform. The loss of high-profile exclusives, such as GTA IV and Assassin's Creed, means that there is a very little to drive incremental PS3 sales."

Personally, I think that this Christmas season in CE is shaping up to be a real nail-biter!

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The ZunePhone Ad that's sweeping the net

Although I'm not 100% clear on who is or is not being mocked here.

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Microsoft increases XBOX360 warranty, says "Oops!"

Good business decision making in action:

TWICE: Microsoft Expands Xbox 360 Warranty

Redmond, Wash. — Microsoft is expanding its global Xbox 360 warranty coverage.
Prompted by what the company called an “unacceptable number of repairs to Xbox 360 consoles,” Microsoft is now offering a three-year warranty from date of purchase to any Xbox 360 customer who experiences a general hardware failure.
Under the new warranty, the company said it will repair or replace any Xbox 360 that experiences the “three flashing red lights” error message within three years from the time of purchase free of charge, including shipping costs. It also said that it will retroactively reimburse any customer who has previously paid for repair expenses related to this error message.
Microsoft said it has identified a number of factors which can cause general hardware failures and has made improvements to the Xbox 360 console.
The company also announced that it is taking a $1.05 billion to $1.15 billion pre-tax charge to its earnings for the quarter ended June 30 to cover the anticipated costs of carrying out this enhanced warranty policy.

It's great to see a company actually take responsibility for its problems, instead of trying to blame them on outside circumstances. A billion dollars may be more than pocket change, even for Microsoft, but in the long run, this move will pay off for them.

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Microsoft buys part of a Chinese television manufacturer

TWICE: Microsoft Seeks Stake In TV Firm
Shanghai, China — Microsoft has agreed to pay $12.3 million for a stake in Chinese television manufacturer Sichuan Changhong Electric and will form a cooperative alliance with the company, according to a Reuters’ report.
The purchase is the equivalent of about a 1 percent stake in the company, and gives Microsoft the ability to work cooperatively with Changhong Electric “to develop, make and market TVs, computers and other digital home-entertainment products,” according to the report.
Sichuan Changhong Electric, which is a government-backed company, said it would soon present the deal to its board for approval.

I wonder if there is there anybody at Microsoft who can clearly articulate what their core business is? Younger tech watchers may forget that before Google became synonymous with buying up every small company in sight, back in the 80's and early 90's it was Microsoft that was famous for rabid acquisitiveness.

I recognize the need for a software company to partner with hardware manufacturers, but do they need equity in the hardware side? Look at the agreement that has Toshiba manufacturing the Zune. Okay, that's a bad example.

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More bad news in Microsoft/Best Buy anti-trust case

Or good news, depending on your point of view.

Channel Register: Lawyer admits tampering in MSN, Best Buy case
A Best Buy lawyer has admitted to falsifying court documents in the longstanding racketeering case against Microsoft and Best Buy, which recently reached a Superior Court in Seattle.
A nationwide class-action suit, filed in 2003, accuses the two companies of conspiring to secretly register thousands of Best Buy customers for Microsoft’s MSN online service.
As reported by the Associated Press, a lawyer with the Minneapolis firm representing Best Buy admitted to altering emails and a paper memo before turning them over to the suit's plaintiffs - though he claims to have acted alone, without the knowledge of either Best Buy or his firm.

Of course, Best Buy has never been caught doing anything underhanded before, so the notion that their attorney was acting on his own is entirely plausible (that was sarcasm, right there).

There's really nothing I can add to this that would spin it any worse for Best Buy, so I'll just leave it alone for now.

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Hitler's Ultimate Downfall

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The cool factor just keeps coming: Microsoft's Milan

Wired: First Look: Microsoft Milan Surface Computer -- A Table That Knows What's On It

The latest trend in computer interaction is touch. From Jeff Han's now famous demo at TED where multi-touch user interfaces got their first big public airing to the impending iPhone launch, everyone's thinking of innovative ways to control their machines just using your fingers. Microsoft is no exception—today they've announced the first product from what they're calling their Surface Computing group, a tabletop computer for retail outlets that's been code-named Milan. And we've got a hands-on report, with photos and video—right after the jump, of course.
It's an acrylic table that's 22 inches high, with a 30-inch horizontal display. Remember those tabletop arcade games in bars in the 80s? It looks something like that. Inside, there's a PC running Vista, a projector, and an array of cameras that track objects and touch on the surface of the screen. With a little special programming sauce, it all comes together in a very slick experience.

I recognize that I am being presumptuous, but I don't think it's too early to say Woooooo!

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Racketeering charges against Best Buy and Microsoft still won't die!

Perhaps in honor of the release of the sequel to the popular zombie horror movie 28 Days Later, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ressurected the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act charges against Microsoft and Best Buy.

NetworkWorld.com: Racketeering case against Microsoft, Best Buy revived
Microsoft and Best Buy are facing racketeering charges in a case first brought seven years ago that alleged consumers had MSN accounts activated and were charged for them without their knowledge when they purchased new PCs.

...

In the Microsoft/Best Buy case, plaintiff James Odom complained that during the purchase of a new computer at Best Buy, he was enrolled in a free-trial subscription to Microsoft’s MSN Internet service without his knowledge and then charged for the service once the trial period had expired. He says other customers paying with credit or debit cards also were enrolled in the same fashion.

The claims, if true, may or may not count as racketeering, but they are definetely bad manners. Then again, Best Buy doesn't exactly have a stunning track record of being concerned about their customer's feelings.

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Microsoft announces XBOX 360 Elite

Tough break for the 8.76 million people who already bought an XBOX 360.

CE Pro: Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite Adds HDMI, 1080p
Microsoft officially announced the new Xbox 360 Elite yesterday, confirming rumors and Internet buzz about an upgraded version of the gaming system and Media Center Extender. The new system will feature an HDMI port capable of 1080p video output, an expanded hard drive and a black finish.

So, my first question is, what gaming content are they going to announce that capitalizes on the upgraded unit's new capabilities?

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Who keeps suggesting that Microsoft should buy Yahoo?

From Dealbreaker's Opening Bell
Microsoft: Should They Buy Yahoo? (Tech Trader Daily)
This is a discussion that seems to pop up every 4-6 months. There's some belief that if Microsoft were to buy Yahoo, the combined entity could be a credible challenger to Google. Yes, Microsoft needs some help in the area of the internet, and yes Yahoo is still a big company with a lot of users. But it's unclear how a combined Microsoft+Yahoo would perform any better than Microsoft and Yahoo not combined. Both are losing out to Google, and nothing about the combination would seem to offer any real trick to get things turned around.

The fact is, the buzzword "synergy" went out of fashion around 1997, because it doesn't really happen. You can't tie two pigeons together, and create an eagle. You just end up with a pair of ruffled, angy pigeons who can only flap one wing each, and don't want to be tied together*

Really, what core competency in either Microsoft or Yahoo's bag-of-tricks would shore up the shortcomings of the other? Both have hidebound, monolithic corporate structures. Both promote an image of themselves as cutting-edge while continuing to repackage the same old concepts. And both think that jamming more features and content into the box counts as innovation.

I don't see it happening, and I'm not the only one.





*in retrospect, I wish I had come up with this analogy when talking about a putative GM and Chrysler merger last week.

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Best. Microsoft Vista Review. Ever.

Blogger "Chalain" has written this review of Vista. And in the process, made a perfect example of why there should be an awards gala for bloggers.

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Microsoft Vista a Hit...with Pirates!

Yahoo! News: Pirated Windows Vista on sale in China on global launch day

Much has been made of the simultaneous launch of Windows Vista and Microsoft Office, but even more noteworthy is the fact that both the legit and counterfit versions of Vista shipped on the same day.

I don't know if this represents a new High or a new Low in technology. Maybe it's an example of market efficiencies, or true vertical integration.

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Microsoft Zune: Hot or Not?

Compare this:

Due to what he called a less than favorable reception, Munster doesn't expect the Zune to materially affect iPod sales in the current quarter.
Microsoft released the Zune less than two weeks ago. Munster noted the Zune held the 7th spot on Amazon's best-selling MP3 players list on Nov. 16, the Thursday of the week it launched. By the following Monday, it has already fallen down the list.
As of midday Tuesday, the black 30-gigabyte Zune held the No. 22 spot on the list, while Apple's black 30-gigabyte iPod took the top spot followed by four other iPod versions — including the pink 4-gigabyte Nano at No. 5 and the tiny 1-gig Shuffle at No. 3. Both Apple's and Microsoft's 30-gig music players retail for about $249. Unlike the iPod, the Zune features a built-in FM tuner.
The Zune is not generally seen as a threat to the iPod, which dominates the portable music player market. Shaw Wu, an analyst for American Technology Research, has predicted that Zune's success may instead come at the expense of other makers of portable music players, such as Sony, Samsung and Creative Technology Ltd.
As for reviews, Munster noted that they have been neutral to negative.
When the Zune made its debut, "the player drew many comparisons to the iPod, but failed to match up in the eyes of most reviewers," the analyst wrote.
When it comes to marketing, "our checks show that Zune ads are being placed more selectively than iPod ads," Munster said, adding that the Zune "is off to a slow start; from sales perspective as well as the marketing perspective."

To this:
Microsoft has won a 9 percent unit share of consumer portable digital audio players in the week ended Nov. 18, according to The NPD Group.
The research company reported a 13 percent dollar share for Microsoft’s new $249 Zune, making it the No. 2 portable digital audio supplier for the week.
However, Apple remained the clear leader with 63 percent unit share and 72.5 percent dollar share for the week, said NPD.
“Microsoft attracted early adopters in a successful launch week for Zune, eking out Sandisk as the No. 2 digital audio player vendor,” said Ross Rubin, NPD director of industry analysis. “This was especially impressive given Zune’s single-capacity configuration and relatively high price point. However, Apple still retained dominant share during the week and Zune was still outsold by PlaysForSure-compatible players in aggregate.”


So, which is it? I guess I'm going to have to actually watch this story now.

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