MS will probably not drop the Kinect at any time and rather force a price-cut anyway and off-set the loss with revenues from XBL and software. Average Joe will never see X1 as weaker, it is just us nerds here that care for those unnecessary matters. Btw, I have just started using voice commands on Netflix and I will never go back! It's an awesome experience.

More powerful GPU, RAM, CPU, and more Shaders.... I'd say that is prety significant!

The price goes down and their sales increase. By then I think everyone except the MS diehards will have forgotten the Kinect-being-core-to-the-experience marketing spiel, and I'm sure those diehards will be more pleased with the sales increase than the squandering of the infinite possibilities of mandatory kinect integration, so I doubt many will care. 

The console will be cheaper and more people will buy it, Simples!

The same what will happen once Nintendo drops the WiiU gamepad.

Nothing, because it won't happen at all.

I just don't believe that they will drop Kinect.

Kinect is the one area where Xbone offers something relatively new and different.
Drop Kinect, and what's left behind is pretty much just a weaker PS4. In such a scenario, why should people go for the second best choice, unless it's at least significantly cheaper? And just trying to be cheapest is not the best business model. Much better to offer something that the competition doesn't.

Would it not be better to differntiate with Exclusive Innovative games on a games console, rather than a camera gimmick which people could still pick up anyway. 

I dont think they will.

If they do really really bad, maybe. Then you release a no-Kinect SKU for 399, or even 299 soon as DDR3 makes XB1 way cheaper to produce than PS4.

But I dont see them doing badly despite all the hubbub. I think they're already at least even with PS4 in the states and gaining daily since the DRM debacle.

I think it's also possible Kinect could end up proving a big selling point of the console, particularly towards females (fitness games etc) and families. In fact I think Kinect could easily propel the X1 to outsell PS4. In that case, removing it would actually hurt them. But we need a year or so of sales to tell if this is happening.

We core dont like Kinect, but we need to understand where it's aimed.

Yeah basically. Except I disagree they would have no options.

Lets say they're getting destroyed and need desperate measures, they can release a 299 Kinect free, games focused, X1 (eat some losses), and believe me that will sell I think very well.

X1 isn't Wii U, it has a lot of punch and thus will remain an attractive system if the price is low enough.

The thing is in a doupoly market, neither player can really afford to fall too far behind and risk losing third party support. Thus, MS will simply not allow X1 to be crushed, nor Sony PS4 for that matter.

Then the situation of the Xbox One will be just like the Xbox 360.
Big deal, heh?

-.-