Xbox 360 Price Cut Coming?
November 27th, 2006 by Darren Stevens in Business, Hardware, Software, Technology, Xbox360
There have been several rumors during the past few months about a possible price cut on the Xbox 360. But Microsoft has always dismissed all rumors, saying there will be no price cuts, period. Now Microsoft boss Robbie Bach has openly stated that a price cut would be needed to better compete with Sony’s PlayStation 3. In an interview with A+E Interactive, Bach said,
Because we were out there first, we have a bigger installed base of consoles. We can drive down the manufacturing curve sooner and faster. And because we designed a box that was fundamentally easier to manage on costs, we’re going to have that advantage.
He continued,
You have to ask the question, over the life cycle, who has the cost advantage? Who can price most effectively? Who can reach the price points quicker? That has a huge impact on what gets driven.
It was recently reported that Xbox 360 manufacturing costs have dropped 40% since the beginning, and that Microsoft is actually making money on each console sold. We’ll have to wait and see if that translates into price cuts any time soon.
Read (A+E Interactive)
Tags: Business, Hardware, Software, Technology, Xbox360
November 27th, 2006 at 7:39 pm
wouldn’t be surprised if there is a price cut, but it only applies to america and the europeans get a price increase.
November 27th, 2006 at 8:06 pm
Between a price cut and the new HD-DVD add-on which is just so damn cool even if it isn’t HDMI (yet) … Sony is in trouble for at least the next 12 months. And if they can’t cut down the manufacturing costs signficantly then expect that period to be extended. It is really apparent that this move by Sony (the PS3 w/cell and Blu-ray technology) is an all or nothing strategy which is depending very heavily on their currently installed base of PS2s being upgraded within the next 12-18 months.
November 27th, 2006 at 9:52 pm
The Xbox360 cpu will get upgraded to 65 nm technology in the beginning of 07, making it cooler and cheaper to produce. That should drop the price even further, and more importantly, make it less noisy (and even use a smaller power brick).