At first I couldn't figure it out ... there was something illogical about it ...

If the XBox One is designed with core gamers in mind like they said, than why would they make the kinect a mandatory device ?
Just look at the blockbuster IPs like GTA, Halo, Gran tourismo, Call of Duty, Battlefield, Final Fantasy ... they don't require a device like kinect, and I don't believe they ever will.
Gamers just want a descent and comfortable controller, and as responsive and lagless as possible.
And Microsoft wouldn't have to integrate the HDMI pass-through either, because core gamers are not interested in those kind of gadgets at all.

But I suspect it's not about gaming at all .. it's all about targeted adds and registration of which adds are viewed and by who.
I mean, look at Google ... those webbased targeted adds in the searchresults are their biggest cashcow, and Bing doesn't even come near a small percentage of that kind of revenue.
But with Kinect, they can monitor who's sitting in front of the TV, they can even see what kind of pets you have and the amount of children in your household and their ages.
And if the HDMI pass-through is connected, they can even monitor which movies and shows you're watching.
Once kinect sends a small signal to the cable-provider with information about the audience, they can easily select and stream the targeted commercials to your cablebox or to your xbox so that the silverlight technology will display it.
Even if you're going to the kitchen or the bathroom while the commercials are on, they would know you're not around and pause the commercials for the time being.

So, it's not about gaming ... it's much, much more about advertising, and that's exactly in Balmers league and vision .. control over the screen in your livingroom with lots of advertising.
And that's also the reason why they messed up their latest E3, because the XBox One + kinect might just be another scam.
Like a trojan horse, but they will not and shall not confess their masterplan. Instead, they show you some exclusive IP's to distract you from their hidden agenda.
You would be paying a $100 more just so they can push their adds down your throats, and in the meantime they'll have their own cashcow while you are waiting for the adds to finish.

And that's why I think kinect is mandatory and why it needs to be plugged in.
That's going to be the XBox's future as they like to see it, and why Microsoft was so eager to invest in it all these years.
It would be pointless for Microsoft to invest billions in the platform just to sell games.
After all, they could publish their IPs like Halo, Gears and Forza on PC and/or PlayStation anyway without any heavy investments or risks.

But hey, those are just my thoughts, care to share me yours ? ;)

Holy shit, you fucking madman. You're absolutely right. Wow! How did I not see that before?

INPUT ONE! It's fucking designed to sell your information. Everything feeds through the box. Your livingroom, your cablebox, even your phone with smartglass. omg, it's like the curtain just lifted.

This would fucking knock even Nielsen right on its proverbial ass. If MS could monitor the exact users, time spent, channels, activities, number of watchers, etc.... Dude, Nielsen is huge and this is ALL THEY DO. Wow. MS would control quite a bit. Plus, they have snap in.......they've literally made it easier to give more feedback.....but not only that... Proprietary viewing information.

It's too bad that xbox one is going to get buried by the competition. Otherwise, I'd invest right now.

(Also, when I used to think about xbox one, I was like "too many different directions at the same time...but, it's not different directions for MS. It's definitely a single unified direction. Advertising information. How did I not realize this, when I've been saying for like 10 years now that MS is an advertising company that just happens to sell software)

Thank you Willem. Thank you.

Holy shit. That's one way to interpret it xD

God forbid you will actually use it for the convienence.

Voice search marketplace, skype with ppl, headset free voice commands in gaming.

I mean cmon, some gamers mindsets...... Like a bunch of seniors that refuse to embrace modern conveniences.

You just figured this out? This theory has been all the rage for months now.

What I never realized was the input one portion of it, and the tie-in with smartglass. I knew that kinect would be used for some kind of advertising information gathering, but actually didn't put the other pieces of the puzzle together.

Have you not read the news lately? Hint: Google NSA and PRISM

Still defending the Xbox eh. 

Even though the OP's posts reads like one of a raving loony he does have a point about being pushed tailored ads or monitoring viewing habbits. Every company's goal is to get information.

It's not that loony. Truth is stranger than fiction. All the biggest companies are in the business of user monitoring and ad tailoring. Not just regarding advertisement, but regarding viewing habits, like Nielsen does.

Voice search and commands can be achieved with a headset too.
And when I'm gaming there's no point in skyping, it would distract me from the game and the conversation I'm having.

And I like to be lazy too, so I would certainly embrace modern conveniences if it makes live if easier on me :)
But I have a feeling they're not honoust about their plans and vision, and how they're trying to achieve their goals.