But do they really want to be in that? I agree on services/store but again I think they're in a real pickle remotely getting traction there. The main established online stores are all accessed via mobile devices - Apple and Google respectively - and there seems very little evidence people are falling over to sit in front of their TV to do so. If anything I'd be willing to bet shopping channels for TV addicts would still be the main approach for TV based purchases. Mobile devices are just easier and more flexible - particularly because you can touch them and quickly input to them.
TBH as I said I really think the XB1 is now a device designed for a market that never came about and doesn't look like it will.
All the stats I've seen show second screening is how people prefer to shop while watching TV and that's a well established trajectory vs what MS is trying with XB1 via a TV.
I know hindsight is cheap but it seems to me now that MS needed to get into tablet/mobile much earlier and with much more speed/aggression and that they should have focused on home PC (either desktop or laptop) as a companion to their devices in the home (which would have built on their strengths and allowed for easier and faster synergy) vs taking this huge, long and slow route to build a (highly contested and competitive) home console presence as their route to then get customer to services/shops.
Even looking at their concept videos for shopping, etc. via Xbox/TV I feel they're missing the direction of the market - again it looks like something from a SF movie of a stylized, Epcot home of the future vs where the trends seem to be going.
Like I said I believe they could be a strong player in games console - but I'm currently of the view it really doesn't make a whole lot of sense for them vs putting a lot more effort into mobile OS/store & services access.
Heck, even looking at this gen IIRC PS3 and Wii saw more use for Netflix and the like than 360.
A home console will at best be just another option in my view, and likely never the main one, to access such services, and that's the issue for the future of Xbox in my view : MS is putting arguably too much time/money/effort into a lesser channel while they are still being slaughtered in the main channel - i.e. tablets/mobile devices.
I agree with you.
I'll add that the living room seems to be the ONLY place RIGHT NOW where MS can maintain a foothold to continue building the brand's value, because they have little to no presence on PC and mobile. They simply don't have the IP power to go services only right now, but they could in the years to come.
If you look out 20 years everything will be streamed and there will be multiple digital store fronts that allow you to buy, sell, trade, and rent all forms of entertainment and immediately start playing, watching, listening, etc. Amazon, Apple, Valve, and Google will each have these unified ecosystems. The differentiation must be in the content and how you experience it.
Microsoft has to continue building IP, with entries in different mediums that make their ecosystem attractive
across devices. You can see this line of thinking with things like SmartGlass, Halo games, Halo TV series, Quantum Break game and TV series (I would be willing to bet Alan Wake comes back in a similar fashion). Would you be all that surprised to hear of Perfect Dark coming back with a focus on spy/gadgetry, with a game and TV series? With ways to watch and play on any device.
And the living room. This is too easy -- imagine Kinect is the only "console" you buy, with Xbox as the delivery service (you can buy controllers as accessories). I think interactive entertainment, or gamification of TV seems like something people could get into. How do you think kids would react if they could watch Yo Gaba Gaba, jump around and dance, get feedback from the show, and track their stats with friends? What if the show was tightly tied into a game, which gave them objectives to complete? For adults, what about game shows, where you get to play along with the contestant, blurt out your answers, and Xbox tracks how you fared against all your friends doing the same? Also see Xbox Fitness and how it tracks your stats and compares against your friends.
I don't know if interactive programming is going to make it big, but there may be something there. And Microsoft could set themselves up nicely to re-enter the PC and mobile markets for it if they continue investing in cross-platform, interactive entertainment.