“What?!? An Xbox 360 for serious business use?”

Yep, that’s right, gentle readers: a Microsoft [MSFT] Xbox 360 with a properly configured Kinect sensor… for use by businesses.

While this may not be the disruptive change leader for 2010 (although, then again… maybe it is), this certainly is an attractive video conferencing option for business and at the least, it may be a disruptive game changer.

Problems for Home, Advantages for Business

While home use for Kinect may be problematic, especially for the hardcore gamers who have been wondering whether there will be any play (literally and figuratively) for them, some of those same issues seen by potential home users may be benefits to business users. Here are some reasons:

Space, Space, Space…

A big requirement for Kinect is the need for the sensor array to map out a sizable floor space grid. In many living rooms, this is a problem, particularly for potential users who live in apartments and small homes. This is not a matter of total floor space, but clear floor space.

But many businesses have meeting rooms that may be easily cleared to allow the Kinect sensors to properly calibrate itself.

What’s That Racket?

The audio requirements for Kinect may be problematic in noisy households. But, again, calibrating for businesses can easily be accomplished in a quiet conference room, or as is typical for many IT departments, performed overnight or after-hours when the majority of office workers are gone (and it makes additionally a convenient time to hop online to do some mega-multi-player deathmatches, since the Xbox 360 is sitting there anyway).

An early press image of the preliminary "Project Natal" form of the Kinect sensor. In the background is an earlier version of the Xbox 360 White console.

Motion Tracking and Presentations

This feature may or may not be as important for some businesses, but the ability for the Kinect sensor to pan somewhat may be quite favorable for many business purposes, especially for presentations and large gatherings. While privacy and convenience issues may arise for home/gaming uses (after all, who wants to see that naked roommate wandering around in the background as your buddy is chatting with you?), having the sensor track your business presenter and capture all of the nuances of his or her presentation skills and style may help your company successfully close a deal or effectively collaborate on team projects.

Cost: The BIG Deal

While it is up for debate whether $150 for a full motion tracking device accessory fits in a household’s affordability range, especially in these dire financial times, it is quite another matter for businesses, who have been confronted with expensive, videoconferencing “solutions” from various vendors. Contrast those multi-thousand-dollar options, sometimes requiring dealing with multiple vendors to get a “complete” solution, with a $400 USD package with a Xbox 360 console and a Kinect sensor from a well-known single manufacturer, with a simple do-it-yourself installation and configuration procedure. Taking these points into account, it is clear that provisioning several remote offices, or even allowing employees to video-commute from home or other locations, becomes several orders of magnitude more economical than other “strictly business” videoconferencing options.

Combining the use of Kinect technology for team-based videoconferencing with more personal or “quicky pickup” video conversations with Apple’s [AAPL] iChat AV and FaceTime technologies makes the potential for a fully distributed workplace even more realizable and cost-effective.

Wow… you heard the plans from Microsoft [MSFT] that they were going to launch a retail store, a la Apple [AAPL], going as far as to woo Apple Retail Store employees, especially managers, from Apple. And with the launch of Windows 7, Microsoft has executed their plan with their first outlet in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Management Perspective

While Apple has the single-source advantage, Microsoft continues to struggle on multiple levels against essentially all challengers. However, today’s Windows 7 launch may help the hardware vendors and VARs to realign on a unified operating system for their products, which have been long fragmented between the XP and Vista platforms for several years. Closing the functionality gap on Apple’s OS X will introduce a degree of uniformity that consumers have been demanding for almost a decade.

Other Pressure

And while having the new retail presence would play an important long-term survivability role for Microsoft, there is that immediate-term pressure from the likes of Google [GOOG] that must be addressed.

N.B.

• Microsoft Retail Store Opening Today (Javamancy mini)
• Windows 7 Released Today (Javamancy mini)

Coming soon from Infinity Ward and Microsoft [MSFT], in addition to the game itself, will be the Modern Warfare 2 limited edition Xbox 360 Elite, with a new custom paint scheme, and a 250 GB hard disk, which surpasses the standard 120 GB hard disk shipped with regular Xbox 360 Elite consoles. In fact, the 250 GB hard disk will not be available separately.

It’s an interesting question, as to whether the 250 GB truly transcends the previously-known 126 GB format limit on the Xbox 360 disk partition structure, or whether it is two separate partitions (either in the form of tandem drives, or a single physical drive). Given the wide availability of multi-terabyte capacity hard disks, it is a wonder that Microsoft has not expanded the Xbox 360′s disk partition maximums.

In addition to the larger hard disk and a custom paint job, the limited edition Xbox 360 Elite kit will ship with the Modern Warfare 2 game and two wireless controllers in matching paint scheme. The retail price is set for $399 USD, and pre-ordering should begin shortly.

For those of you who are old enough to remember the monumental three-way product/platform wars between a variety of different players, as well as the various face-offs between heated contenders, you can often slot the threesters into that ol’ Good-Bad-Ugly trifecta.

Perhaps not this time, however.

Apple’s [AAPL] Snow Leopard OS release on August 28, 2009 has an opponent in the game console arena from none other than Microsoft [MSFT], in the form of a decent amount of price-slashing, which improves market/player share and reduces inventory nicely. This allows Microsoft to offset the later availability of their own OS replacement coming, Windows 7. And the same-day alert of price cutting on August 28, 2009 steals a lot of the thunder from Sony’s [SNE] own announcement earlier this month about the upcoming PlayStation 3 Slim, which is now announced for a September 1, 2009 North American release. Although the Xbox 360 Elite remains fundamentally the same, it is still a strong contender against the PS3 Slim, so the pricing and software libraries will ultimately decide this latest round in console supremacy.

Admittedly, this is a crooked kind of comparison, but there is a lot of convergence going on, primarily to set the stage for future products and services in the pipelines. It also opens up the possibility of niche players potentially making a play for a greater presence in the realms of gaming, general computing, and mobile computing and entertainment.

Remember when I just had to get an Xbox 360 Elite Edition to replace my first Xbox 360 that unfortunately suffered a RROD event?

Well, Microsoft [MSFT] has definitely come a long way since then, offering to correct their RROD warranty policies to reflect the wider impact of various hardware failure conditions.

Now, to really get more gamers onto the platform, as well as to allow hardcore gamers to replenish their gaming stacks once again, Microsoft has announced that, starting tomorrow (August 28, 2009), there will be price reductions in their more popular editions:

• The Xbox 360 Elite Edition will be $299 USD, down a whopping $100 in price;
• The Xbox 360 Pro Edition will be $249 USD, down $50 in price;
• The Xbox 360 Arcade Edition remains at $199 USD.

This is just in time for a very large group of blockbuster games headed to the Xbox 360 platform in the weeks to come, and it prepares the way for the upcoming winter holiday season, which presents a fantastic sales opportunity for Microsoft and the software studios and publishers and other content providers– not just through the standard retail channels, but also through online sales and subscriptions and ad-based retention mechanisms.

Larry posted the news earlier today about how the Halo 3: ODST “Transport” vehicle will be making the rounds at several Gamestop outlets, starting today. This gives some lucky folks the opportunity to try out some of the game, and possibly even win some prizes, while getting the word out about the new upcoming game in the Halo 3 line.

This is one of those Microsoft [MSFT] – Bungie – Gamestop [GME] dealies that helps to drum up excitement as the gaming schedule enters the autumn doldrums… Of course, this particular year will be jam-packed with several other sequel titles, so the need for the ODST Transport tour will be double-pronged: increase the general excitement for the Xbox 360 and its games, and differentiate Halo 3: ODST from the other hot titles coming soon.

Microsoft [MSFT] and Nokia are finalizing an agreement to augment Nokia (particularly Symbian/S60-based) phones and smart devices into becoming viable business-grade devices, or even components in functional corporate meshes.

Management Perspective

Despite the consumer penetration by Apple [AAPL] in the smart mobile device market, neither it nor Palm [PALM] with its new Pre device or even Microsoft itself, with its Windows Mobile platform, have made the significant inroads that RIM [RIMM] with its various BlackBerry platforms have made in the business community. And while adoption of Nokia/S60, iPhone/iPod touch, Windows Mobile, and Android smart mobiles in the SMB segment has been tremendous, none of them have been able to make that tremendous security investment and network ubiquity that larger corporate entities demand.

Research in Motion: Problems

Not to say that RIM has completely protected its devices from espionage or other nefarious hacking attempts. But given their early adoption into businesses, BlackBerry devices have had the benefit of early market entry and dominance to keep its competitors at bay. But for the past few years, with the encroachment of the iPhone and its powerful distribution channel known as the iTunes App Store, RIM has had an increasingly difficult time justifying its add-on costs to tech-savvy companies that have very specialized needs that should not be restricted to the RIM network services.

Even worse, the BlackBerry devices actively marketed for business use carry hefty price tags that are beyond the hardware and assembly costs and yet are not as subsidized or discounted by the wireless carriers. This has become so extreme that many long-time BlackBerry owners have eked out a living by sticking with their old models.

Palm: Problems

Despite the recent rollout of the Pre, and the expected launch of the Eos, Palm has been limited to Sprint [S] for its wireless service on the Pre, while the more ubiquitous Centro and Treo smart devices continue to appeal to both businesses and consumers because of the stable Garnet OS platform and the wide plethora of applications available. In fact, despite the development onslaught of iPod/iPhone apps being released, the total software base of Palm OS/Garnet OS applications far exceeds every other mobile phones’.

But since Palm has essentially abandoned Garnet OS in favor of its newer webOS platform, the death knell for the Treo and Centro devices– while delayed– has been pealing for quite some time.

Android Consortium: Problems

While conceptually a good idea, Google’s [GOOG] open source Android platform seems to be suffering from too much expectation and not enough implementation realization. Instead of a tremendous groundswell of product releases and massive application software offerings, the problems associated with multi-vendor “cooperation” have curtailed widespread Android OS product adoption. This may be another case of early market advantage by Apple, or it may be merely due to developer community splintering and over-division.

Windows and Symbian OS: Opportunities

Combining the technologies found in Windows (and other Microsoft technologies) and Symbian OS platforms definitely provides quite an opportunity. Focusing on Nokia devices, traditionally non-Windows Mobile based throughout its history, allows for better standardization for application development, and it brings a huge developer community from the standard Windows OS, the portable Windows Mobile and CE platforms, and even interest from the XNA-Xbox networking groups. Additionally, the Maemo and S60 communities can be brought to bear to help flesh out both the Windows Mobile Marketplace and the Ovi Store.

Even more intriguing is Sun’s [JAVA] and Oracle’s Java Store (known on the distributor side as Java Warehouse) availability, given the strong presence of Java ME on Nokia smart devices. While Java Store has not been formally launched yet, finalizing the available revenue models for software developers who want to leverage that channel would benefit all of these potential collaborators. Combining Java technology (and JavaFX Mobile, too, ‘natch) with the distributed computing opportunities by the usual Sun-Java partnerships, like with Amazon [AMZN] Web Services and Elastic Cloud, as well as plenty of other hosting services (like Joyent) would further intensify and magnify the reach and coverage for businesses and corporate users.

And, of course, there would be plenty of consumer bleed-through opportunities as a result… Could you imagine purchasing Xbox LIVE games from your smartphone and having the option of either playing them on the ‘phone or having them ready to play at home via the download queue?

If you recall my previous discussion about Microsoft’s [MSFT] positive about-face decision to honor E 74 Red-Ring-of-Death (RROD) hardware failures as covered under their extended three-year warranty, I mentioned that the company would be refunding people who had paid for the repairs prior to the announcement.

Yesterday, as I was browsing my credit card statements, I noticed that– YES!– there was a refund from Microsoft for my Xbox 360 Pro’s repair.

If you are/were in the same proverbial boat as myself (and my poor Xbox 360 console), you may also be subject to a refund. If you haven’t received your refund yet, I recommend that you contact the Xbox Technical Support folks on their site concerning the matter.

N.B.

Other related Javamancy posts (in reverse chronological order):

• E 74 RROD Now Included in Three-Year Xbox 360 Warranty Coverage
• Reign of the Xbox 360 Elite Edition
• Heartbreaking Agony of RROD

Other information of interest:

• Microsoft Help and Support: Your Xbox 360 console displays the error message E74
  • Xbox Support variant of the Knowledgebase (KB) article: Your Xbox 360 console displays the error message E74
• Xbox Support: Description of the E74 error message warranty extension

You may have seen the TV commercial for this thing by now. It starts out interestingly enough, with talk about how it is time to get liberated, with imagery of people doing different things, and what appears to be vacation spots that you may like to try and venues that you would like to see.

But it’s for Microsoft’s [MSFT] relaunched search service, Bing. Bing replaces Microsoft’s older Live Search offering, which in turn had replaced other previous Microsoft search products and aggregators.

Many people have voiced disappointment over the quality of Google’s [GOOG] search results, primarily too many results that are only peripherally related to what they are interested in and with very little differentiation in categorization. And then there’s the problem of too much search advertising that obstructs the searcher from the tasks at hand. Bing presents an interesting proposition: in addition to general search, more specific searches are available along the left sidebar of the “Explore” menu, which visually brings the user experience a bit closer to the image that dominates the center of the display area… which in turn attracts the attention toward the hover hotspots that offer a nice meandering around the presented contextual data about the image. Of course, this would position Bing as a casual-visiting site because of the meander feature, which may dilute the intention of the current marketing. But while the hover technique (AJAX-y, eh?) is something that has existed in other Microsoft products before, applying it for search result drilling is vastly more appropriate than some of the past uses.

Whether Bing provides a better search experience is still not known, since people have to get their eyeballs on the revamped service and learn a bit about the history of the service. But if this provides another alternative to Google and Yahoo [YHOO] search engines, then it’s a case of “the more, the merrier”. Unfortunately, Microsoft does still have to break away from excessive Silverlight usage: after all, the objective should be to make Bing more accessible to the public, not less accessible.

More Reading

• Bing (Wikipedia)
• Companion site about Bing itself : Be careful of the embedded video plugin and Silverlight requirement complaint popups! But it goes over some of the reasons behind the search engine’s overhaul and its history.
  • Bing search challenge : See how Bing compares against Google Search, on the same Web page.
  • Bing Developer Blog : Of course, we knew you’d want to know about this destination! After all, how are you going to integrate Live Search/Bing into your own apps?
• Bing’s search results about “Bing”
• Bing on Twitter : You didn’t think Microsoft would miss the Twitter opportunity, did you?