Why the Xbox 360 Price Drop Won't Have Much Effect
Xbox 360 Pro Discontinuation
One of the reasons why Microsoft chose to drop the price of the Xbox 360 is to get rid of the Xbox 360 Pro model. Because of that, the new price for the Xbox 360 Pro is only effective until the model is off store shelves. Although it is still technically a price drop, it feels more like a clearance. So if you didn't buy the Xbox 360 Pro early, you will be stuck with having to buy the other two models. As a result of the discontinuation of the Xbox 360 Pro, sales for the Xbox 360 will only see a temporarily increased, which won't be as big as Microsoft hoped.
Removal of HD Cables
Dropping the price of the Xbox 360 obviously costs Microsoft a lot of money. To compensate, they decided to remove high-definition cables from new units of the Xbox 360 Elite. Even though it resulted in a lower price tag, the perceived value for the Xbox 360 has also been lowered as consumers will have to buy a separate cable in order to display the system in high-definition resolutions. Due to the hesitation and confusion caused the cable removals, the Xbox 360 won't sell as well as expected with the price drop.
Minimal Price Still Same
Although Microsoft dropped the price of the Xbox 360 Pro and Elite, the Arcade model still costs the same. The entry point to the system is still $199.99. Although Microsoft has been doing great with that low price tag, it remains the same as the previous year. So, even though the price tag for the Xbox 360 Elite and Pro has dropped, sales will only increase slightly and won't be as high as Microsoft is expecting.
Overshadowed by Playstation 3 Slim
Finally, the Xbox 360 price drop announcement is being overshadowed by the Playstation 3. A few weeks before Microsoft officially dropped the price on their system, Sony announced a new model, price drop and branding for the Playstation 3. It managed to steal a lot of thunder away from the Xbox 360. Because of that, the price drops won't help the Xbox 360 sell as much as expected.
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6 Comments
Post a CommentI can't believe how naive the author of this tripe is. MS does not expect to outsell PS3 with this price drop. MS is trying to get rid of the Jasper units so that they can get the lower cost to manufacture Valhallas on the market at a substantially lower price. The new Valhalla elite will be 250GB and will cost around 299, the new pro will be 199, with a 120GB HDD, and the arcade will be 150 or discontinued.
Microsoft has dropped the component cables out of the Elite package completely. Go to any retail store and you can check the new Elite boxes.
Brain cells have died as a result of reading this "article". Nothing but flamebait for hits.
M$ HDMI cable cost $100 confirmed.
so what if they dropped the HDMI cable - what you wrote is NOT true. You do not have to have the HDMI cable to display the hi-def. The supplied component cables will do it just fine. if you want to have 5.1 sound then sure TOSLINK will be required.%0D%0A%0D%0AThe component cables carry high definition red%2C yellow %28the green connector carries the yellow signal%29 and blue video signals. They don%27t carry audio. These cables can be used to get high definition signals %28720p%2C 1080i and 1080p%29 from the 360 to the TV for display. They require a seperate audio signal to be carried by another wire %28more on this later%29. It can also carry lower definition signals %28480i and 480p%29%2C but this won%27t be an issue for you.
"consumers will have to buy a separate cable in order to display the system in high-definition resolutions"
Definitely not true, the component cables that come with it display the signal in up to 1080i, 720p, 720i. The only high-definition resolution not available using the bundled cables is 1080p.