Getting Played By Microsoft
I
saw a photograph in a newspaper yesterday in which Bill Gates was
handing out the Xbox to a customer (white geek-looking male wearing
glasses and a bad hat). The photograph and Gates' decision to
personally hand over
the first Xbox is just more evidence of Microsoft's brilliant and
well-executed marketing campaign. In many ways - be it leaks,
“frank” discussions with major business publications or reports Xbox is
already sold out (easy to do if you decide to “manage” the
shipping process) - Microsoft has convinced the media and
consumers the Xbox is a revolutionary product that is not only going to
shake up the gaming industry but jump-start the company's growth
prospects. In many respects, Microsoft has no choice but to put its
marketing machine behind Xbox because it's not like the new version of
Windows or Office 54 is going to blow away investors and consumers.
Xbox is about buzz and sizzle, which Microsoft desperately needs more
of. From a financial perspective, I'm not sure how much weight to put
on a research report by iSuppli, which suggests Microsoft is losing
$153 on every Xbox sold based on the cost of the components vs. the
$399 retail sales price. If you're as big as Microsoft, you are likely
get
big volume discounts. Then again, the action is probably not in
hardware but the
software needed to use the new Xbox: it's the old razor and blades
game. In any
event, the fact I'm writing this post on Xbox just demonstrates
how even the skeptics (and non-game players) out there have been caught
in the Microsoft PR machine.
