You got to hand it to Microsoft

[xman]

thx1139 said:

Cueil said:

Picko said:

JPSandhu said:

Picko said:

Microsoft has been lucky because the financial crisis and the resulting recessions (regardless of whether they have happened or happen) have made the 360 relatively more appealing than the PS3 than what would be the case during normal economic times. The price of the PS3, given current economic conditions, is an absolute killer and any price differential between it and the 360 is only magnified. To what extent they were aware of this I'm not sure, but its entirely possible that a good deal of their success against the PS3 over Christmas is the result of a little bit of luck.

 

is it luck or is it strategy, i think its the ladder,  MS played the crisis to it advantage.  Sony on the other... eh id rather not get into it.

 

It is very difficult to play a financial crisis to one's advantage, particularly when practically no-one understands what is going on or how weak conditions will be. It is common to lower prices when things are weak, the interesting part here is that neither of Microsoft's competitors were going to lower price - Nintendo because it already has excess demand and Sony because they are already selling below cost. In that regard it could have been a strategic move, however I suspect their pricing plans were considered well before we knew how bad the economy was.

 

Everyone with a brain knew this was comming.  I'm sure that Microsoft had it planned months in advance, but seeing the trouble they may have waited longer than that initially wanted to.

I am certain MS planned this for last year, but the RRoD problem delayed the price reduction to $199, $299, $399.  Unlike MS Sony did not capitalize on this delay.  MS has capitalized on Sony being arrogant and making mistakes. If you really know the history of MS ( I have been a MS partner for 15 years ) you know that what really has been the key to thier success is capitalizing on competitors mistakes.  Windows took over because IBM and Apple were arrogant and made mistakes with the MAC (kept prices far to high) and OS2 (didnt support the platform with software or affordable development tools).  The Office software suite took over because of mistakes Borland, Lotus and WordPerfect made (key mistake is they didnt take Windows seriously and concentrated on DOS market).

 

Correct like any buisness minimize your mistakes and capitilize on your competation.  I think they are also trying though not sure they will be succesful to go afte the WII now that there price point is under $250.00