Quote:
Originally Posted by RTRic /forum/post/14169847
I thought MS announced a little bit ago that they weren't adding any new SKUs from now til 2009? I will have to try and dig that up where I heard it.
I saw an interview a while back where they said they were not adding any new SKUs. Period.
They might change configs (like when they went from Core to Arcade) but no more SKUs are coming.
The Lineup with remain:
- Arcade (personally, I think its going to $229, but I wouldn't completely discount $199; we *know* they can make money at $199 and the volume boost might make up for the extra $30 cut. MS *has* cut prices "without need" before and ended up ahead.)
- Pro ($299 is a good place to be for 08, especially with the Arcade as "loss-leader", for the high-volume/low-end gamer box)
- Elite ($399 for the hard core gamer or media enthusiast. Again, don't *expect* a bigger cut but would *not* be shocked at $379. See above.)
At $229/$299/$399, that would probably drive the SKU ratio to about 30/40/30, increasing the Arcade and Elite Ratios a bit at the expense of the Pro. Bigger cuts to the Arcade or the Elite would make that particular SKU go to 40% and MS *did* say they expected Elite to be their top seller in 08... Its all tea leaves...
The 60GB Pro? I tend to put it in with the BD/360 rumor that won't go away or the MS-will-license-360-to-Toshiba rumors. Which is to say, they are all technically feasible but meaningless when it comes to selling more XBOXes.
The latter rumor, btw, makes the most sense of the three (which isn't saying much) if nothing else than to see if the japanese will buy a 360 when the packaging says Toshiba instead of Microsoft.
