Microsoft Already Won The Battle For The Living Room When Nobody Was LookingQuote:
Two bits of news came out yesterday that illustrate how far ahead Microsoft is in the battle for the living room.
First, Microsoft announced it had sold 1.7 million Xboxes in November. That includes 1 million in the week of Thanksgiving.
More quietly, an analyst firm called Strategy Analytics released a report on "connected TV players," like Apple TV, Boxee, and the Google TV devices from Sony and Logitech.
The firm says that sales of those devices will reach 12 million in 2011, with Apple TV shipping 4 million.
In other words, Microsoft sold more Xboxes in a single week than Apple sells in an average quarter. And Apple is the market leader in that "connected TV players" space. At least when you ignore game consoles.
This isn't to pick on Apple. It's simply to point out that Microsoft's "Trojan horse" strategy with the Xbox has worked amazingly well.
And this was absolutely part of Microsoft's strategy from the beginning -- way back in 2005 before the Xbox 360 launched, Microsoft executives were talking about trying to expand the market beyond hardcore video gamers and turn it into a more general-purpose entertainment device. But Microsoft always knew it had to make a top-notch game console first to get the installed base, then add entertainment features over time.
It's been doing that, quietly, for more than five years now and has sold almost 60 million Xboxes in the process. With the addition of a whole bunch of TV and other video content last week, the strategy has finally reached full fruition.
Apple, Google, and other connected TV companies could still have a chance if they team up with TV makers so the software is built into your new television set. But any company who hopes to compete with the Xbox by selling an add-on box that DOESN'T play games is in a deep state of denial.
http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/micros ... 34449.html
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