I was thinking the same thing. And drop the price of the 20GB drive.
X360 price drop speculation
- Thread starter pipo
- Start date
I was thinking the same thing. And drop the price of the 20GB drive.
I don't see Microsoft responding immediately. A $499 PS3 is not much of a threat. It's not going to cut into 360 sales. What the company needs to focus on is beating the Wii this holiday season. So I think it'll ignore Sony's move and stick to their own plan. That there will be a price cut for Xmas is almost certain though.
A couple things to consider:
1. People buying the high-end version of the console are less price-sensitive.
2. There're more opportunities for high-margin accessory sales to those buying the lower-end versions.
Thinking in those terms, one would see that it makes more sense to offer the largest cut on the Core. I'd propose the following:
Core - $199
Premium - $329
Elite - $429
A couple things to consider:
1. People buying the high-end version of the console are less price-sensitive.
2. There're more opportunities for high-margin accessory sales to those buying the lower-end versions.
Thinking in those terms, one would see that it makes more sense to offer the largest cut on the Core. I'd propose the following:
Core - $199
Premium - $329
Elite - $429
MS will never pack in Halo. They lose all those dollars on hardware and Halo is the main time they get to make some of it back.
The old "Halo 3 pack in ftw!" you see tossed around on the internet a lot is just basically impossible to ever happen, it should be known.
I dont know about the rest but the 64MB mem card was already dropped to 29.95 when they introduced the 512mb model, which is 49.95 IIRC.
There's all kind of ideas tossed around in this thread but most of them are kind of whacky. The simplest option will be the most likely one. Also recall MS has to maintain a certain price structure according to the cost of the stand alone HDD's. This is why Elite ended up at $480. Because Core+$180 120GB HDD=$480, just as Core+20GB HDD=$399. So unless MS is going to drop the price on the 120GB/20GB HDD, they must maintain that $180/$100 spread on Elite/Premium/Core.
They're also not going to fudge around with <$100 price drops, more than likely.
As much as it would be exciting to get E3 drop, I really doubt it. With Falcon due in "Fall", which is just 2-3 months, why bother? The months of July-August-Septermber are going to amount to how much hardware sales again? Basically meaningless compared to what will be sold this winter. So might as well wait, get the cost reduced Falcon out, drop in Winter with Halo3 as well.
So if they dont change any SKU's the most likely scenario given the above caveats is: $199 Core, $299 Premium, $379 Elite, price dropped sometime in September or later.
If they DO simplify SKU's this winter, a real home run imo would be: Premium eliminated, Elite becomes new premium, Core stays, two sku's, 299/199. I think that'd be a real homerun, but I also think it would probably be too costly for MS to swallow. Too make it work for example they'd have to sell the 120GB HDD for $100 (to keep the price structure, again), and I really dont see that happening as it would reduce profit on that accesory to near zero.
They also really need to reduce the HDDVD add on to $149 or $99 like yesterday.
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One might think they'll have those promotions ala last year's Thanksgiving bundles that initially included Gears of War among other titles. But ya, an official Halo Bundle? Not bloody likely until a year at least down the road post-release.
Agreed.
I had thought the price the Xbox.com site gave me was the latest. I went online and you're right they dropped it to $30. So evidently they have to update their site.
I can't conceive how they could drop the price of their console but still keep the 120gb hard drive at $180. That's why I suggested a $150 price. a $275 Core + a $150 120GB HDD = a $425 Elite. Same goes for the 20GB HDD. I priced it at $75 because a $275 Core + a $75 20GB HDD = a $350 Premium.
I would disagree. They have no incentive to drop the price $100 since their competitor is already $100 more than their most popular model($400 Premium). If their prices had parity, then Microsoft might consider it.
I agree, but the public perception is that Microsoft should drop their price to counter a Sony price drop. I agree they need to respond in kind to keep the ball in their court since everybody will just think Microsoft are being greedy by keeping the price the same for almost 21 months.
I agree reducing to SKUs would be ideal, but Microsoft has already said they're committed to the 3 SKU structure. Considering how they sit between Nintendo and Sony on pricing, it makes sense to have SKUs that's close to both of their competitors. Now had Sony just stuck to one SKU then I could see how Microsoft might think about getting rid of one their SKUs.
As for the 120GB HDD, I agree an $80 price drop on an accessory less than 6 months since it was released is very unlikely, but I could see them dropping the price to $150. I'm sure that any SKU price drop will hinge on their accessory pricing.
How about this scenario for a 2 SKU approach? The Core could be priced at $250. The Premium would just be the Elite at $400 sans black finish. They would then drop the 64MB memory card completely. Then price the 256MB at $40, the 20GB at $80 and the 120GB HDD at $150. I'm sure that would be considered a great deal by most.
I don't see that happening. I'm pretty sure it's dead. If they drop the price it will most likely be due to clearing inventory instead of trying to increase their HD DVD player market share.
Tommy McClain
I wouldn't throw out the notion of a Halo bundle - at least, not in regions where they feel they may want to stimulate hardware sales. I remember Halo 2 being bundled with XBOX's in the UK very quickly.
That's rather timely. LOL I sure hope for Microsoft's sake they don't make the console a limited edition translucent green. Boy that would sure piss off a lot of existing 360 owners, especially the ones who already pre-paid for the game. LOL
Any idea what they'll do? Core + 256MB memory card + Halo 3 Collector's Edition for $360 and save $60?
Tommy McClain
Any idea what they'll do? Core + 256MB memory card + Halo 3 Collector's Edition for $360 and save $60?
Tommy McClain
Details on Halo 3 system...
Look for this new console in September. This new Special Edition contains these components:
Halo 3 Special Edition Console
Halo 3 Special Edition Wireless Controller
Halo 3 Special Edition 20GB Hard Drive
Halo 3 Special Edition Wired Headset
Halo 3 Special Edition Gamer Pics and Theme (Exclusive download via Xbox LIVE)
Component HD AV Cable
Ethernet Cable
HDMI Port
Play & Charge Kit
Xbox LIVE Silver Membership
One-month Lbox LIVE Gold Membership
Halo 3 game not included—sold separately
Looks like a quasi-Elite model. No price details, but Bungie's site says more info tomorrow, so who knows.
Tommy McClain
Thanks, it looks like the current non-HDMI Premium will go away in September.
65nm chips can still be drop-in replacements for the current ones (with some other changes). There's no reason why 65nm parts can't go into current cages for some time - in fact from a transitioning point of view that would be the way to go.
Blackraven
Newcomer
I'm speculating that obviously, the XBOX 360 Elite for Japan would have the new 65nm falcon chips when it launches in October.
A no-brainer kind of speculation hehe
Why haven't MS announced it at E3 then? If it were to happen any time soon. Are they saving it for X07? When's that?
Probably when the inventory of whatever currently exists in retailers is depleated. I would imagine that if there is any remaining units purchased at a pre-price dropped price then MS would have to offer price protection on them, so they would obviously want to minimize the impact of that. (Personally I suspect that part of the "write off of inventory" charges made for the extended warrenty may hide some of the price protection)
That's what I thought? So what's the Bloomberg article about?Best I can tell with a quick nose, it's an editorial saying MS need to cut the price to sell units. Well...duh! That's inevitable! It's a matter of when, which'll be when 65nm is out and warehouses are empty. Which is likely some months away, and the Bloomberg article isn't saying anything we don't know.
