MSFT thinking about a portable Xbox?

by Christopher Grant { Jan 26th 2006 at 3:00PM }

Microsoft is no stranger to portable electronics; they've been providing software that runs many of them for years, only to see their offerings trounced by Apple's unstoppable iPod and now Sony's multimedia maven, the PSP. BusinessWeek is reporting that Microsoft is now considering entering the arena themselves, with a multimedia device that would incorporate gaming. Peter Moore, though not confirming that they are planning such a product, saying that "any Microsoft media device would have to leverage the company's most significant consumer strength, video gaming."

Would the portable device be an Xbox and not just a PocketPC PDA with enhanced gaming functionality. Moore says about the Xbox brand, "It can't just be our version of the iPod... I think the brand is an opportunity."

There are risks in this approach however: they risk falling into the same niche that the PSP occupies, which is finding consumers to be far less accepting of its broad range of features, instead seeing it only as a gaming device; or of alienating their current hardware partners who may view Microsoft, with complete control over the software, as unfair competition.

[Thanks, Neural]

Tags: Game Boy, GameBoy, Nintendo DS, NintendoDs, PSP

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Vestibular man @ Feb 10th 2006 12:43PM

1&2 Ohhhhh wahh wahh big bad MS. "But...but" Shhh quiet you. Let'em spend the money to make new things. We'll (you & I) benefit in the long run. No use in groaning. When we grow up and stop living in mommas basement we'll get a job and be able to afford all of em. PsP, Microsoft hand held, ps3, ps5, xbeezy 1,2,3 ect ect. I say this with love.

Crazyglues @ Jan 26th 2006 3:19PM

Don't do it this would be a bad move all around, try to first get the X360 right before trying another flop product.... there is a reason why Apple�s iPod is so successful, it's because it's that good... When it comes to creativity that's what apple does.. MSFT not even close.

make money on ebay @ Jan 26th 2006 3:23PM

even if they were to make it. it would be more like a gaming pocket-pc. just like xbox is a console of the windows gaming. microsoft wants a piece of everything. sheesh!

Shaymus22 @ Jan 26th 2006 3:55PM

#2, is the fact that Microsoft wants a piece of everything neccessarily a bad marketing decision for the company?

Think about it this way; competition=good for consumers.

PJ @ Jan 26th 2006 3:57PM

That little mockup picture looks cool...I'd buy that just for the design. :)

joe @ Jan 26th 2006 5:32PM

Crazyglue the funny thing everything you say is so un thought out and just screams to be flamed, so i will commence flaming,

Warning long...

See first lets get things into perspective before you start knocking the largest software maker in the world and the lack of abilities.

Overall yearly profits:

Sony took a 200 million lost for the first time in something like 10 years so now for Fiscal year 06-07 they operating in the red.

MS post profits somewhere around 39.9 billion from software sales alone this year. granted the xbox division took a lost, but what�s 250 million here or there when your bottom line is measured in billions not millions.

With that sony is sweating bullets right now there betting the farm on there three major products, and MS is going in for the kill. Can you blame them, sony spent 400 million building there cell chip, and now there spending millions to push blue ray, their road map for the PSP has them turning a profit on it in about 9 years from now. Sony is in major finical trouble, on top of getting out a brand new console in Q1/07 here if MS were to come in a take away what Sony is planning on accounting for 1/4 of their long term revenue, If i was Sony I�d be looking at the Japanese government for a handout.

There so in debt they have to cut off 20,000
skilled Japanese workers these aren�t the guys in the factories in Malaysia making the shit, these are the engineers making 60k a year that design it.
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3099901

why is sonny firing all its staff, because its about to implode.

first off the are about to lose the US market share, (the only market share really)
Sony will miss the boat here and when GRAW and elder scrolls drops in a few weeks demand for the 360 will jump and they will start selling units, by sept or dec of this year with gears of war and 50 + true next gen games out MS will have the 2-3 million console lead it wants.
As much as MS likes to talk about it they could care less about the Japanese game market, they account for less the 20% of all sales for the total console market, they will continue to sell the Japanese windows os so they will continue to profit on that in japan, sony on the other hand has nothing but its movie and consumer electronics division to fall back on(both also suck IMO) (What was the last Sony hit Spiderman 2?)
Sony is banking on the PSP to be the next big thing "their ipod-killer", and unfortunately its not going to happend the PSP wasn�t designed right from the beginning

its awkward to using for anything but Japanese favored RPG games. lacking dual analogs is going to be the proverbial "Achilles� heel" of the PSP, i've used a psp and i will say what i said when i first used it: "the screen is nice"

that�s about it.

everyone wants to bash the 360 for lack of launch games but the PSP has been out for over a year and they have the worse line up of PS1 ports i have seen. I mean at least i have limited Backwards capability list to play with (granted i been playing alot of spinter cell)

as for a Media device its UMD are Sony centric and cant be reused in any device other then sony, I just bought Star Wars on DVD, i can't watch it on my PSP why because i need a UMD so now i have to go back to best buy and buy another $29 UMD, oh wait in 6 months there going to be a Blue-Ray Version of Star Wars that going to cost me $50 to watch....

Ok thank you Sony i'll past on getting screw for $100 on a movie i already own,

as a music player the PSP, ha what a joke, Sony shot themselves in the foot with the whole rootkit thing so now, everyone will be resistant to anything with the words "Sony Music DRM" and with the direction everything is going soon DRM is going to be the only way to go with most new hardware. on top of the only way to get music onto a PSP is with there $500 Memory Stick great 4gb for the double the cost of the unit im using it to play on.

back to the point, if MS were to get into the handheld market not only would the destroy sony but they create and awesome content distribution system, get the content from your PC via Internet, stream it from your media center to your 360, then your 360 can convert/ compression to fit in handheld flash memory hard drive.

the killer would be if i can load halo 1 into my
xbox 360 then it compresses it and i can run it on the handheld,

the original xbox was a 700 mhz 64mb ram
WM 5 PDA now come in 624 mhz 64 mb ram all they need is a supped up graphics chip and it could run xbox games from a hardware standpoint,

then I have my library of xbox one games (much better then the shitty ps1 ports available for PSP), on top of that i have a Photon Power Pocket PC, which can run any app for PPC, throw in some flash memory chips for media storage and your set.
MS owns the handheld market guys
It�s called pocket PC
Maybe not the gaming market, but that�s where the gaming handheld comes in.

i've said it before and i'll say it again

it comes down to money and Microsoft has it
and sony doesnt.

money drives innovation which leads to market share.

what kills me is most of these people dont know anything about the industry they are commenting on. Maybe your young but you can read the same stuff i read, then you can say something beyond
M$ SUX P$P ROXORS BLAH BLAH BLAH

WillGonz @ Jan 26th 2006 7:11PM

The mockup picture would be a cool idea for a Controller with a built in display. You could play XBOX 360 while your on the toilet, while in bed, whatever. Uses the existing wireless technology for the remote functons. And perhaps use wireless TV bands or other RF method. Get to work Modders.

Marcus @ Jan 26th 2006 8:52PM

If Microsoft would make a portable Xbox what I would want in it would be:
1. At least Xbox 1 level CPU and GPU
2. At least 64mb of Ram
3. WiFi with B,G, and N support.
4. Bluetooth
5. Xbox Live Mobile
6. 20-30gb hdd
7. SD, CF, and Memory stick reader
8. Widescreen
9. DivX and XviD support
10. Halo Mobile w/Live
11. Plays for Sure
12. Jpeg photo
13. Mp3 and Mp4
14. Microphone
15. Camera (accesory)
16. Long battery life unlike PSP
17. Internet Explorer
18. Windows Media Center Mobile
19. Some awesome new disc format that holds a lot
20. A white iPod finish and same layout as 360 controller.
21. TWO analog sticks
23. Comfortable to use (unlike the old DS)
24. Launch later this year to help battle PS3 and Revolution
30. Great games!!!!!!

asurroca @ Jan 26th 2006 10:23PM

This is a case where the Core/Premium model could work brilliantly:

1. Xbox Portable Core: Bare-bones, gaming-only: At something like $150 and a true portable gaming system, it could better compete with Nintendo's offerings.

2. Xbox Portable Premium: Gaming, plus Windows Media Center, ~60 GB HDD, Windows Media Player, web browser, Wi-Fi, USB ports, etc. etc. Something like $250 or $300. This one could compete with the Sony PSP and some portable media devices.