I think they deliberately went with such a big box and the high price for being able to drop the price and release smaller SKUs on a yearly basis all the way through the generation. They have seen the impact a new SKU has with the Slim. Being able to do so constantly enables higher yearly sales and they have some flexibility on pricing as well (like after the Slim 360 average SKU price actually went up to $379). That and they obviously don't want to lose money on the hardware and instead make a healthy profit on that already. iPads sell better than comparable Android devices despite the premium price. Maybe even because of the premium price tag, more expensive = better in a lot of people's minds.
You apologists are bordering on insane behavior.
Yep, it's just odd at this point. I've seen some of the most convoluted arguments. The DRM was necessary for all of this awesome sharing they wanted you to do, while saving the industry from used games because they're killing developers. Sony wanted to as well, but don't have the software prowess. No yield problems, Phil Spencer said so. Why would he lie? Oh, and something something infinite power of the cloud will make the system 3x, 6x 10x more powerful.
Now: The huge box is because they're clever and will do yearly refreshes and price drops. It's genius.
Do people actually think marginally smaller redesigns in themselves move systems?
The PS3 Slim design didn't move systems, the $299 price point did.
The PS3 Ugly design isn't moving systems, the 12GB budget model is what's helping to stem Y/Y declines in Europe.
The Xbox 360S aesthetic design wasn't what helped the 360 sell, it was finally shaking the RROD image with a new model.
The newer Wii design didn't help sales performance.
This new smaller 360 will have no impact on sales without a meaningful price drop.
Microsoft didn't design a big-assed box with a shit-ton of vents because they want to do yearly redesigns. They did it because they 1) needed to make sure that there weren't overheating and/or reliability issues - because a second RROD fiasco would probably permanently tarnish their hardware reputation - and, I believe someone may have mentioned in a different thread 2) it likely makes their box simpler (and cheaper) to manufacture.