Critical Xmas for the Xbox360 ???

[Dodece]

There is a valid concern here. Microsoft probably expected to own this year outright. They expected to face only Sony and their ultra expensive machine. Nintendo being a distant third place that would do well for a few months. However that did not happen. Nintendo is stealing up the market Microsoft thought they were just going to have. Some of those people that bought a Wii would have bought the 360 instead, but did not. They had ample reason not to. The Wii was novel, cheap, and had a decent lineup. What did the 360 have to show for that time nothing except bad publicity from breaking machines.

Do not get me wrong Sony had a worse year, but with production costs going down these two heavy weights are going to be pound for pound competitors in less then a year. To be plain they will cost about the same amount of money. Microsoft will have lost their price advantage for the most part. Microsoft is living on borrowed time as it were, and worse they are not even defending their position against Nintendo. The longer they let the price gap exist the worse off they are.

The question is not how much better they did then Sony. The question is how well should they have done, and well they should be doing. Microsoft needs to start competing on the price front now rather then even a month from now, and they need to be serious. Every month makes their situation worse and not better. Thats more time for Nintendo to eat up more of the precious market, and more time for Sony to establish a base.

I can about guarantee if they got within range of the the Wii on the price front their sales would pick up drastically, and they would develop serious momentum. That is the sweet spot for the market, and the longer they take getting there the worse their situation will be. The article is talking to this problem. Microsoft is under performing when it should not be. They have languished most of the year, and that has only served Nintendo, and it has allowed Sony to hang around.

When you see Microsoft procrastinating on the next logical step entering the casual market by lowering their price. You have to ask what has happened have they simply ran out of steam. They are letting Nintendo run forward unchecked and letting Sony inch back in. They might want to cut losses at this point, but they are setting the ground work for the next five years. Right now it are the other two surging ahead while Microsoft has sputtered to a crawl.

This is a race and it feels like Microsoft really has spent the last six months catching its breath. That is a problem this is a critical holiday for all three. Nintendo needs to prove it can keep that momentum. Sony needs to get its act together and hang in. Microsoft needs to go mainstream, and become this seasons Nintendo. Now if Microsoft can pull that off with a great lineup and a better price they might do themselves a world of good and save their console.