January 24, 2008, 3:11 PM by LicenseToKill to chairmansteve
Wow time flies, where does it go?? The 360 will be 3 years old later this year... seems like I was camping out in the cold to buy one not too long ago. And after 3 years, I would expect the console to be below $200. I could see it hitting $99~149, by 2009.

January 24, 2008, 3:31 PM by chairmansteve to LicenseToKill
$99-149 in 2009? Slow down there, 007. $149 is possible but most liklely in 2010. And don't count on $99 until maybe 2013, if ever.

February 15, 2008, 7:08 PM by chairmansteve
My calculations have the price cut window from March 11 to April 23. I ruled out February, since MS expects the supply shortage to continue till March.

These are my five most likely dates, in order. I chose only Wednesdays.

1. April 23
2. April 9
3. April 2
4. March 26
5. March 12

Nobody named Pookie gets in my five.

March 7, 2008, 1:40 PM by chairmansteve
The Blu-ray rumors call for more speculation. At $399, a massive 250GB HDD is doubtful if Blu-ray is added, but 120GB is already large.

April: Price Cut
Q3: New SKUs

$199 Arcade
$299 Pro 60GB
$399 Elite 120GB with Blu-ray

With this, there would only be one price cut this year. I had two earlier only to get Arcade to $199 for Xmas. If Pro and Elite get price cuts and upgrades, then Arcade can go straight to $199 from $279.

March 7, 2008, 8:50 PM by Alex to chairmansteve
Funny, why would anyone buy a PS3 if 360 has BD?

It interesting that MS would have a spec that sans HDD matches Wii and one that matches the original 360 and one that matches PS3.

March 8, 2008, 8:30 AM by LicenseToKill to chairmansteve
Do you happen to what the manufacturing costs of building the 360 are at now? Also, what about Blu-ray components? They should follow the same cost decline as DVD (which dropped considerably after 2 years on the market)...

I'm just wondering, cuz if MS decides to add Blu-ray to the 360, it shouldn't increase the cost of the system that much (maybe cut into their profits a little).

If they do decide to release another major revision to the 360, hopefully it'll include Blu-ray and built-in wifi (or pack-in wifi module... & at least a price drop for the wifi module)

March 8, 2008, 8:56 AM by chairmansteve to LicenseToKill
A Blu-ray PC OEM drive is around $150, while a DVD drive is around $20. So the difference may be at least $100. $200 should be enough to cover the 120GB HDD, Blu-ray drive, HDMI cable, headset, and any extra software royalties for Blu-ray.

The WiFi adapter may one day get a price cut.

March 8, 2008, 12:13 PM by Alex to chairmansteve
Why not a 2nd Elite SKU (aside from the BD sku) with simply a much larger HDD and no BD? Why allow money spent on BD to cap the HDD size on the top model? This gives consumers choice.

March 10, 2008, 11:08 AM by chairmansteve
Microsoft is serious about price competition this year.

New Official Pricing
UK: £159, £199, £249
Europe: €199, €269, €369

The US price cut is hopefully a few weeks away.

March 10, 2008, 8:41 PM by Airzonk to chairmansteve
That's it! Here's comes the Micrsoft Tidal wave that will take out Nintendo!

April 17, 2008, 7:29 PM by chairmansteve
GTA Day is less than two weeks away. It looks like MS will opt for profits instead of a price cut before GTA. Of course, MS could wait a bit longer just because I predicted a price cut before GTA. Xbox 360 outsold PS3 in March, so MS does have a 3rd reason to wait.

The question on their minds right now must be, "Do we boost demand through the roof for GTA at the cost of letting The Steve correctly predict our price cut?" It's a tough decision.

May 7, 2008, 3:20 PM by chairmansteve
I need a new five (in order of probability).

1. July 13-16 (E3)
2. August 10 (before Madden and Too Human)
3. September 7 (four weeks after Madden)
4. September 14 (WTF? Where's the price cut?)
5. September 21 (Hello? Can anybody hear me!?)

I'll stick with the same new three SKU lineup for H2 2008.

$199 Arcade
$299 Pro 60GB
$399 Elite 120GB and Blu-ray

Since the Pro is the most popular, maybe the New Pro will come first (July/Aug). A New Arcade would be mainly for holiday shoppers, so that could wait until October, the usual time for a game bundle. A New Elite could be somewhere in between (Sep).

June 17, 2008, 3:39 PM by chairmansteve
E3 is looking good. Of course, Microsoft may wait till Madden like last year. But E3 is looking good.

If the 60GB HDD is at E3 too, it should be in stores within a month after. How will that affect price cuts? I assume 60GB will replace the 20GB Pro system. I'd like to see the older model flushed from inventory at $269 and the price for the newer SKU announced weeks in advance at E3 as $299, but that won't happen.

There are no new Blu-ray rumors for E3. Maybe the idea got scrapped, or maybe it'll be shown later. Last year, the Arcade SKU wasn't announced until October.

Arcade: $199 or $249
Pro 20GB: $299
Pro 60GB: $299 or $349
Elite: $349 to $399
60GB HDD: $99
120GB HDD: $149

So many possibilities! I like $199 Arcade, but I have a feeling that it'll be $249. At $249, that does open the door to a possible motion controller bundle in a few months. What can be added to Elite if not Blu-ray? 250GB or Wi-Fi? But if Pro 60GB is $349, that changes a few things.

Summary of Possibilities (worst to best)
- $249 Arcade, $299 Pro 20GB (while supplies last), $349 Pro 60GB, $399 Elite
- $249 Arcade with Motion, $299 Pro 60GB, $399 Elite+
- $199 Arcade, $299 Pro 60GB, $399 Elite
- $199 Arcade, $299 Pro 60GB, $349 Elite (while supplies last), $399 Elite+

Japan may get a price cut too in August or September.

July 1, 2008, 12:53 PM by chairmansteve
Australia and New Zealand just got price cuts.

Before: AU$399, $579, $729
Now: AU$349, $499, $649
Difference: $50, $80, $80

Before: NZ$449, $649, $799
Now: NZ$399, $549, $699
Difference: $50, $100, $100

If the US matches the Aussie drop, then we could expect $249 Arcade, $299 Pro, and $399 Elite. That's a $30, $50, $50 drop.

July 12, 2008, 10:53 AM by boohoohoo
The 20GB Xbox 360 pro could be replaced with a new 60GB Pro model according to a leaked email to Blockbusters and Gamestop.

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With the introduction of the 60GB Pro console in July, we have research that suggests it is very important to have a 60GB stand alone Hard Drive to go along with it to allow the consumer a full range of choices and values. In late October/early November (exact date TBD but most likely last week in October or 1st week in November), we will ship the Xbox 360 60GB Hard Drive, tentatively called the “Xbox 360 60GB LIVE Starter Pack”. This will be an excellent value price at and ERP of $99.99 with an 18% retail margin that contains:

· 60GB Hard Drive

· 3 Months of Xbox Live

· Xbox 360 Wired Headset

· Xbox 360 Ethernet Cable (same one that is included with Pro and Elite)

Positioning: For Xbox 360 Arcade and Core console owners, the Xbox 360 60GB Live Starter Pack offers all of the components to get onto Xbox LIVE and jump in to on line multiplayer gaming and Marketplace content downloads at an incredible value.

With the end of life of the 20GB Hard Drive and the price drop of the 120GB Hard Drive to $149.99 in September, this new 60GB hard drive will fit very well into our “Choice and Value” pillar and will fit nicely into our accessory line up. Exact SKU/UPC/Set up info will come soon and once we nail down the exact MSD, I will let you all know immediately.

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http://xboxfamily.com/us/index.php/Latest/Leaked-Info-on-60gb-Starter-Kit-and-20gb-s-Death.html