"The Future of TV Begins Now," according to a December 4 press release from Microsoft. The announcement goes over the proliferation of TV channels available, and offers a solution: Kinect voice search, on an XBox 360 with the latest dashboard update.
The update introduces a long list of XBox 360 apps, from content providers like ESPN and Netflix. Partners announced for early 2012 include HBO GO and Xfinity on Demand. The update is intended to turn the XBox 360 game console (with the Kinect attachment) into a hub for digital media viewing, allowing people to watch anything by asking for it by name.
Apple- and Google-branded set-top boxes designed to improve TV watching are already on the market; the Apple TV in Apple's case, and third-party machines like the Logitech Revue in Google's. But neither platform has gained widespread acceptance, and both lack features the XBox 360 now has:
Voice search and a simple UI
Like most Apple products, the Apple TV's user interface is simple and straightforward, and derived from the Front Row app that once powered Macs' media capabilities. But while Apple's new Siri feature allows for natural-language instructions to your device, so far it's only available on the new iPhone 4GS. Kinect voice search is on all XBox 360 consoles with the Kinect attachment, and the latest software update.
Most reviews of the Google TV set-top boxes, meanwhile, express dismay at how complex its interface is -- even after last month's Honeycomb update.
The networks' cooperation
Google TV ostensibly allows you to surf the web from your TV ... including the websites of major networks, many of which offer recent episodes of their shows online. But ABC, NBC, CBS, Hulu and Viacom properties like Comedy Central and MTV block Google TV boxes from watching their shows online, and thus skipping on most of the advertisements. Apple TV, meanwhile, is primarily tied into Netflix and iCloud, and isn't marketed as a way to enhance normal television watching.
The XBox 360's update offers participating content providers a way to bring their videos into XBox 360 owners' homes on demand, instead of through watching digital cable or broadcast TV. And so far, many have already signed up for it.
50+ million XBox 360 consoles
That's according to Edwin Kee of Ubergizmo, based on Microsoft's most recent quarterly report. So while Apple's treated its Apple TV as a "hobby," and Logitech's bowed out of the Google TV business after substantial losses, Microsoft already has a huge installed base for its console -- provided that most of the consoles it shipped, like the early ones plagued by the "Red Ring of Death," are still running.
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