Aslanna wrote:Even Microsoft realizes how bad XBO is and wants to dump it!
Microsoft’s Xbox Division May be Purchased by Amazon According to Insider
I'd say that's a possibility.
Xbox is Microsoft's way into the living room so it's hard to picture them wanting to get rid of it even if it's the least profitable right now. Amazon has been coming on strong with original programming for it's Amazon Prime (10 new pilots just released) I've been watching an older Amazon Prime called Betas and enjoy it. I can see Amazon wanting to have a strong presence in the living room with a console.
Amazon is big into linux with their Kindle's so it would be kind of odd to have to work with the Xbox OS which is based on windows and can run windows apps. They'd end up paying licensing fees to Microsoft which is what Microsoft excels at (making shitloads of money for licensing) Microsoft already clears 1 Billion a year in patent licensing fees to Android based products.
Looking at it from Microsoft's standpoint, they'd still make money without the hardware headache.
I can't emphasis enough that Microsoft is in an extremely good position for the future.
http://money.cnn.com/2013/09/17/investi ... edge-fund/
Ubben said he likes that Microsoft charges a lot of money, makes a lot of money, and has enterprise contracts that will last for years. He noted that Microsoft is "in the plumbing" of big corporations.
By contrast, companies like Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) and Samsung (SSNLF), which cater more to average consumers, have to keep churning out new products every few months even if changes are incremental.
"They have to run faster every year to keep up," he said.
As for Amazon, it's hard to say. They also want access to the living room and having Xbox One's carrying Amazon Prime's shows as part of the XBLive free would be a big step. I'm sure they'd have a nice integrated interface to Amazon's store as well. You could buy your PS4 games using Xbox One and Amazon would make money. Amazon probably likes the integrated TV features of Xbox One for their Netflix cloning purposes.
While Apple and Microsoft make tons of money, Amazon is non profitable overall. Their streaming service lost 1 Billion last year. They made 1 Billion + off their cloud services though.
Microsoft has a huge server farm supporting the Xbox. I'd think Amazon would be able to handle that part of it since their own cloud network is humongous but your talking two different server networks on different Operating systems.
The CEO, Jeff Bezos, for Amazon would be a positive as he's shown himself to be brilliant.
I could see it happening but there's also a ton of back end stuff that would go along with it that would seem to make it not such an easy deal.
I didn't know Amazon owned IMDb. I use that all the time. They own audible.com as well but I knew that.
I think if Amazon gets ahold of Xbox One you might actually see the beginnings of a solid option vs cable TV emerge. Bezos seems intent on creating new content and shows and instead of needing the networks, can possibly just squeeze them out with a better product. Just a year ago, Netflix would have been an attractive buy for Amazon, now it's market cap has skyrocketed. Best to have options and it looks like Amazon Prime and Netflix will be those options.
Sony is in the worst position. They cater more to consumers while Amazon and Microsoft have back ends that service corporations making them more stable and less reliant on a fancy new TV or camera to boost their share price. The Playstation NOW service would be a step in the right direction but maybe they also need to get some sort of Netflix/Amazon Prime thing going to leverage the millions of game consoles out there that might pay higher monthly fees for it.
