Sony's competitive position

[Dodece]

@dallas

1. The only reason you view my perspective to be extreme is, because you dislike the implications. We are discussing a very competitive marketplace. Where portable gaming devices more often then not fail to survive their first year on the market. This is really the norm rather then a exception. Exactly how is saying that the usual could happen one more time in anyway a extreme viewpoint. Especially when the market is only getting more competitive.

2. Seriously your going the my way or the highway route. Your just assuming it is the most viable or desirable of the options available to Microsoft. When the answer is it probably isn't. You want to know how unimportant this is to consumers. I haven't seen any of my online friends actually watch a DVD on their 360. The majority of the time they are streaming content. Microsoft can remove the feature entirely, and nobody would notice or particularly care that it is gone. There are a lot of equally viable technologies Microsoft can choose from, and it isn't as if the need exists on a technical standpoint. The majority of games don't even use all the space on a standard DVD, and with Hard drives getting bigger all the time installing is quickly becoming the norm. Installed games run better on the whole, and it saves strain on the machine.

3. Once again did I miss something. Microsoft still dominates the operating system market, business software, and other software architectures. They aren't being pushed out of markets they owned. They are finding competition in new markets. Gaming is a new market for them, but a pivotal market. Microsoft has put a lot of money into tying gaming into their overall strategy. So yeah don't expect Microsoft to be pulling back here. They aren't just making new gaming studios on a whim. They fully intend to make gaming into a selling point for many of their products. Its going to be an advantage moving forward.

4. The point is there isn't a competitive advantage to be had. Consumers have equal access, and Sony angling for manufacturing efficiency. Doesn't necessarily trump the new financing strategy coming out of Microsoft. If the goal of more efficiency is to make a more cost effective product at a lower price point. Then Microsoft is getting the same effect from offering a installment plan. They cancel each other out. Chances are that Sony will not be making any more per unit sold then they were before.