I skimmed through it though. so I only saw certain things.

The warranty for the Xbox 360 on the EFA plan is 1 year, Kinect is 90 days.

It was assumed the warranty was 2 years because the contract period was two years, but officially it's 1 year for the console and 90 days for Kinect. 

As long as consumers feel what they paid is worth the product, nobody is screwed.

There are three big competitors and maybe some Steam boxes coming. There will be plenty of competition to help keep prices competitive.

Actually, as mobilephones go, the price will go down.

Back in the 1990's when I sold phones, intially they were $600, then $500, then $300, then $200, then $100, then $20, then $10, and finally they became free.  That was within about 2 years.  We went from not having any cell service, to spotty service, to excellent service all in that time period.  We sold exactly the same phone, a 3 Watt Nokia Mobile (bag) phone.  Once the price hit $100 we sold a ton of them.  People couldn't buy them fast enough and we couldn't get them in fast enough. 

The majority of people bought them for one thing, emergency use.  At that time, you paid for every incoming and every outgoing minute, except for emergency (911) calls. 

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Microsoft will announce at some point a reduction in price for EFA purchased consoles.  My thoughts will be it'll be significant, so significant that'll make purchasing it a no-brainer.  With the Xbox 8 coming out, and a disc-less Xbox 360 device, I think Microsoft will push the original Xbox 360. 

A smart man holds onto his money.  Doesn't matter if he's rich or poor.  The less I spend on the entry price, the more the money I have left can work for me, regardless of how much of it I have.  In addition, $15 is easier to manage and budget per month as opposed to one lump sum of $360, nearly 2/3rds of which you'd be just giving to Microsoft to keep for nearly 18 months. 

If you want to give someone money to hold on to, I can give you my personal contact information and we can arrange for you sending me money.

I'm also not going to dictate what someone should or shouldn't spend their money on.  If they feel they have the money to afford it, then have at it.  It's wiser for them to use the EFA Plan than to buy it outright.

Yeah they must have changed the EFA plan, when it first came about, it included an extended warranty for both the console and the Kinect unit.

No matter how much haters love to piss on this, bottom line is most people will opt to pay for less on almost anything and then pay the rest slowly, even if it means paying more in the long run. It's a psychological thing.

Financing a car will mean that you will almost pay TWICE the amount of the original purchase price. Same with a house and having a mortgage. Catalog companies like FingerHut charge an arm and a leg for the stuff they sell. Why? Because they let you pay for things slowly over time. People do this all the time. There is nothing wrong in Microsoft offering a CHOICE and trying to capture and cater to that type of consumer (which is alot). For those who don't care just by the product flat out and be done with it.

Sure if you don't mind being stuck in a contract, want to use live for 2 years and too lazy to look for deals on the console and/or xbox live gold.

A smart man holds on to his money, doesn't enter unnecessary contracts, or pay for things in advance, nor does he have unnecessary debts. But I guess I'm one of the very few that didn't buy a car until in my 30's when I could buy it without a payment plan.

Great for people brought up on instant gratification. It would be smarter to save up, buy it when you can afford it, probably with a price cut in between or with a good deal, plus plenty games will be cheaper by then.

You could also compare it to common credit card interest rates and paying over time.  It's really seems like a reasonable deal.

Some people are just going to hate where anything but their chosen console does.  I really wish they would just stay on their own pages, but I guess they don't have enough good games to play.

That's what I think whenever someone goes trolling.  They are sad and lonely with no good games.

Do M$ already use Rent to own shops? I can see that being a massive advantage next gen. The 360 isn't the "new flashy expensive tech" so rent to buy for that hasn't really taken off. Hmm.. This is probably for another thread actually.