This week Microsoft officially announced a $10 increase to the annual Xbox Live Gold subscription. Most analysts were not too surprised by this, believe the added features over the last year justify the price hike, and that Microsoft's Xbox momentum should not be affected by the move. But where does Microsoft go from here? How much can they charge and what will they offer?

In a special Pachter's Podium last year, Wedbush Morgan Securities' Michael Pachter correctly predicted the $10 increase and he said a $100 plan might very well be in the cards. Now that the price actually is being raised, we decided to check in again with Pachter to see what his thoughts were on Xbox Live pricing and the future of the popular online service. Regarding being correct about the increase, he began by joking, "Yeah, even a broken clock is right twice a day."

As for Xbox Live's future, the great thing about the $10 increase is that it will enable Microsoft to reinvest in the service to then offer even more enhancements. "The extra $10 translates to around $100 - 150 million per year in additional revenue for Microsoft.  I think that they will reinvest at least this much in developing other new applications, and will roll out a premium service with $100 - 200 million worth of enhancements," Pachter told IndustryGamers. "If they can get 2 million users to switch from the $60 plan to the $100 plan, they'll make an extra $80 million a year, and can keep investing to try to grow that business."

He continued, "The Xbox 360 can work as a media center, and conceivably could do things like managing a music library.  Although Apple and Microsoft aren't the best of friends, I could see Apple letting Xbox Live members manage their iTunes accounts through their 360s, and other such premium services.  I'm not the guy to speculate as to what they will offer (for example, I didn't even know ESPN 3 existed before it was announced for the 360), but I'm sure that there are many talented and creative people at Microsoft working on such a plan right now. For all I know, the Platinum plan might include virtual goods credits for various Microsoft games.  If members could get specialized Halo armor or weapons worth the extra $40, they might be more willing to sign up, and it doesn't really cost Microsoft anything to offer things like that."

We also asked Pachter about the possibility of the Xbox becoming more like a cable-box with IPTV or similar functionality, but the additional features will come more gradually, he believes. "As far as other media center applications, I think we'll see baby steps on IPTV before we see a full roll-out of a cable-like service.  More channels like ESPN 3, perhaps they will offer HBO Go or something similar.  There are a lot of emerging services like Hulu, Epix, perhaps a premium YouTube service.  I think that the possibilities are limitless, although it's a bit early to speculate on what precisely they will offer," he said.

http://www.industrygamers.com/news/xbox-live-likely-to-see-100-platinum-service-next-says-pachter/

think its possible but doubt it will happen maybe next gen