Xbox 360 Pro SKU EOL
- Thread starter AzBat
- Start date
Sure if your entertainment center is all black, of course it's going to blend in, that's not the point of why MS stlyed the exterior the way it is. Any black box will blend in.
Well if you use apple computers and have your Xbox standing vertical then it blends in very well.
As I said the exterior styling is designed to show lines/curves. Being black just maskes everything, it doesn't make it look better, it just makes it blend in with black A/V gear. A black garbage bag blends in with your A/V gear, doesn't make it better...
MOD EDIT: You've made your point, there's no need to belittle other forum members.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
I'd put that down to cheaper prices for the refurb combined with the economic climate. New Egg was doing something similar with PS3 refurbs just a couple weeks ago. Also 360 refurbs.
Regards,
SB
Looks like somebody finally figured out that the new Elite is not coming with component or HDMI cables...
http://kotaku.com/5339432/elite-360-no-longer-ships-with-hd-cables
Welcome to 2 weeks ago guys.
Tommy McClain
http://kotaku.com/5339432/elite-360-no-longer-ships-with-hd-cables
Welcome to 2 weeks ago guys.
Tommy McClain
But as I said, "features" for consumers aren't, "technical check boxes." Does a "777Petaflops" really matter to the consumer? Of course not. Even BluRay isn't necessarily a black and white "check box" if looking at it from a consumer consumables and services perspective. As a consumer if I want video media I look at the consoles and have a number of options: the PS3 has a Bluray drive that plays BluRay movies, DVDs, and you have media on the PSN store. On the Xbox 360 you have a DVD drive, the Xbox Live library (which I hear is larger, if not higher profile), and of course exclusive direct Netflix support for movies (SD and some HD) and TV shows.
This is what I meant by a platform--it isn't about, "lets put all the features on a scale and measure it out." Similarly, for consumers who are primarily gamers, games are going to be a huge factor in deciding the platform's relevance. Having a larger back library of better games at cheaper prices counts for something for gamers who have heard of all the great games on the market but don't earn any.
Ironically I think consumers are still out of touch at times, even with PSN/Live. A gent at work has an Xbox and mentioned it in passing. I asked him what games he liked and he mentioned NCAA and FIFA and racing games. I said I liked sim racers and I was looking forward to the new Forza Motorsport--and he had no clue what that was.
I think we give consumers far too much credit for knowing all the details of the consoles, I think things come in more generalities. We still read people talking about PS3 versions of games being a lot better fr example--PR sticks. Just like bad PR sticks. But the eb and flow I think is closely tied to major products and events (e.g. the 360 snagged a huge amount of Madden gamers, benefited from the Halo buzz, hurt by the RRoD, etc).
At this point in its life the PS3 is going to be judged by the software and services it provides now, not any potential what ifs at $299 the software (games and movies) should be compelling to many, especially consumers who have held off. The question is how far can Sony make inroads in this economy before MS and Nintendo strike back with their own price and software moves.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Yeah, a 179 arcade and 249 elite would be an interesting counter. Even then however, I think PS3 would have a little more momentum with the PS3 Slim since it's a price cut and a redesign.
If GT5 was indeed nudged a bit to make this holiday season, the PS3 Slim might match the X360 in sales in the US (for the holidays). And with an outside chance to surpass it.
Then again, I'm still expecting all consoles to post YoY losses compared to holiday 2008.
Regards,
SB
If GT5 was indeed nudged a bit to make this holiday season, the PS3 Slim might match the X360 in sales in the US (for the holidays). And with an outside chance to surpass it.
Then again, I'm still expecting all consoles to post YoY losses compared to holiday 2008.
Regards,
SB
Why? The 360 might, it is a non-cut year vs a last years fresh cut, but the opposite is true for the Ps3, it will have a huge YoY gain for the holidays. The Wii will drop because the price is stale, but with a $50 cut it could pick up.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
The economy now is worse than it was then. And an increasing number of economists are warning of another major recession hitting soon with more job cuts.
The prospects for holiday buying spree's is pretty grim right now. I would LOVE to be proven wrong however. This is one situation where I don't even remotely want to be correct in my predictions.
Regards,
SB
All things being equal that might be true, but things are not equal as I said. A $299 slim could easily double the sales of the $399 phat, holiday buying might be down 15% worst case.
For example:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125063872313441645.html
For example:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125063872313441645.html
In the UK I know GAME received information regading SKU and pricing changes over two weeks ago. Off course these were made with the PS3 slim in mind. This come from a Ex colleague who is a regional manager for Game. He can't tell me exactly what MS had planned or why it hasn't happened yep.
Dell is always putting random things on sale though, one can't really use their pricing as a weathervane.
I think the bottom line for Microsoft is that it is more profitable for them to bring 'down' the Elite and maintain the $299 price point than it is to discount the Pro and keep it in the game. There seems to be this Internet consensus around that the 360 hardware is sold at a profit and Microsoft has tons of wiggle room on pricing. I've haven't been able to keep track the last couple of months as I'd like, but for myself I would be surprised if a SKU like the Arcade wasn't still a loss-leader, the Elite at $399 a money-maker, and the Pro an unknown... but at $249 and under a likely loss maker again.
That's like saying the new PS3 should have been $199 as well. MS isn't looking to inflict massive pain upon themselves simply to maintain a psychological price advantage that was really always a flaw of the competitions rather than an active move of theirs.
For them it does muddy the waters, but I don't think Elite at $249 or under... and the Arcade proportionally reduced below that... is a situation that does anything but invite serious margin deterioration. Even for Sony though obviously costs from launch to Slim have been seriously reduced - moreso of course than the 360 has been able to reduce - I would be interested in hearing their cost comments come the next conference call.
Both MS and Sony are using Dell to reduce excessive stock. They just don´t want to use the regular channels for this as it would mess up the recommended retail price as well as mess up the competition at retail.
What is the cost of a 120 GB HDD in the US? That will give you an idea about the wiggle room they have. The difference in price of a 60 and a 120 GB HDD is almost neglectable as well as the price of cables and stuff.
Negligible but there. And if anything you're reinforcing my point, because rather than reducing the Pro by ~$50 or more... and taking a $50 hit on the spread between a 60GB and 120GB drive... they're reducing the Elite, kicking out the Pro, and instead for them the calculus becomes the costs of a drive vs no drive within that $100 spread. See what a material effect that has?
So to restate, yes - 60GB vs 120GB drive, marginal difference. 120GB drive vs no drive, substantial difference. They're not getting rid of the 'Pro' in my opinion, they're getting rid of the 'Elite' in the truest sense, re-naming the Pro, and making some minor and cosmetic changes to it. The $400 price point has been abandoned, but it's a line at $300 they wanted to hold, rather than let their more expensive SKUs cost-wise (and here I don't differentiate between Pro and Elite) slide below $300.
As for the cables... cables are cheap, but MS' included component cables were more expensive than most I would imagine due to their heft and proprietary interface. Now, not only have they gotten rid of that expense for themselves, they will make money off anyone who needs to purchase one, whether 1st party (nice profits there for sure), or even 3rd party due to licensing. There is essentially no 'generic' option for component cable since the interface is not an open standard.
$40?
I generally agree with your other conslusions.
When you order cables in the order of several hundred thousands, the cost of some special adaptions to the factory equipment (fixed cost) gets very small in comparison to the cost of material and labour, so I expect the cost difference to standard cables to be pretty small.
