For me, the big complaint before the XBO launch was the whole digital library and the user base spoke out loud that they didn't want just that as an option. Secondly this is supposed to be the *OneBox* you need, but then if you want to play your DVD's and BR disks, will need a second device.

Removing the Disk drive which everyone knows is not an expensive component and making the All in one the, *need every thing else* machine is a stupid idea, and it won't sell. Why because users have already spoken and you can get a PS4 at the same price, which will be the better TV/Media machine.

I think everyone who are certainly early adopters have already said, remove Kinect, that is where they can drop the price (it's already been said that K2 is very expensive). If MS *won't* drop Kinect2, then they have to prove why it's needed cause at the moment they haven't done that except for voice commands.

The price point is such a convenient excuse for the X1. It's their favorite fall back so they don't have to start thinking that it might be the bad public perception of the console that's holding sales back.

So far the only people who bought it are Xbox fans and generous parents neither of which cares about price.

I've said this before and I'll say it again, the infastructure isn't there for a digital console to be successful in the U.S.

The average internet speed in the U.S. is 7.2 mbs. At that speed it would take 16.5 hours to download a 50 gb game. That's a very long time and like I said an average time. 

OK I'm ready to go all digital but I think it's a bad idea right now to do it. I already have the day one edition. It's a better idea to drop the price with a kinectless sku and make it optional but I myself am loving the kinect and remember folks just calibrate it correctly and it works great!

You aren't wrong in your theory, but the number are a little different in practice.  That may be the average, but dial up really skews the numbesr down, and most of the people will low internet speeds aren't their target demographic.  When the original Xbox came out with it's  ehternet cable, it seems so crazy as, there was no Xbox game ising online yet, most USA households didn't have high speed internet in 2001. 

Tech can change quickly.  As things like Google Fibre start spreading, other will have to adjust.

TL/DR: it's not so bleak as it seems.

You're right that the internet is speeding up over time. My issue is how fast does it need to be before a digital only console makes sense? I average just over 28 mbs which is rather high for the U.S. and a 50 bg game would still take me over 4 hours to download. That's still a long time. 

A digital only console will certainly be viable one day before this generation ends. But not in 2014, or in 2015 for that matter.

I think for many gamers digital distrubuion is already been a viable choice. Think about Steam - it been out for a while, and digital distrubution.  It is also successfull and really began in 2010.

I don't have the fastest internet at all, but it's fairly easy for me to go all digital. Just que a game, and play it next day as a worste case senario.

An average movie from Netflix is about 2.8 gigs per hour of data.  People stream movies like that all the time. 

Movies, music, TV and entertainment is already mostly digital. Why should games be left out in the past?

399 definitely, Disc-less not yet. It would just be the next PSP GO.
There is no mass market interest for a download only console with £45-55 download store prices.
Microsoft would be the last to upset there retail partners with heavy digital discounting.

Why make it an all or nothing choice? Buying a console with no optical disc gives Microsoft too much power. Will I only be able to buy stuff from Xbox Live or will there be other options like Amazon? Sure my PC has a steam account but I can still buy retail games and other online sources like GOG.com. It would also alienate retailers like WallMart, Best Buy, and Amazon.com. They might refuse to sell the disc less version and I would not blame them.

Even if I my internet did not have data caps I still would not buy a Xbox with no optical drive. I don't like being tied into one one source for games. Even iTunes allows you add MP3s and rip CDs to your library. Steam also allows you to play single player games offline for 90 days. That's 3 months without checking in. I guess we'll see if the details emerge, but I honestly do not believe this will happen.

All digital will never work unless brand new games are $45 to download as opposed to buying them from the store for $60. Who in their right mind would pay $60 for a download that they can't resell if they get tired of the game or if it sucks. Barely anyone. The only games that do well digitally are things that are either cheap like XBLA or Wii Virtual Console games, or games like Animal Crossing that people know they will never get rid of.

Brand new digital games for $60 are a scam. When you pay $60 at the store, that retailer makes about 12 - 15 bucks off of each copy, so when you pay $60 for a digital copy of a game essentially that extra 12 - 15 bucks is just going right back in to Microsoft/Nintendo/Sony's pockets. This is the same reason why the PSP GO was a massive failure. They were trying to charge $30 for games that were selling for $10 at Gamestop or on Ebay.