PRESENTED TO: PROF N.

SAMBANDAM
Group Members:
Siddharth Gupta Utkarsh Gupta Yash Gupta Sipak K Mohanta Gosspy Thakur Kanchan Gupta Shubhlaxmi Singhal Anubha Gupta

CONTENT:

Introduction Background Note The Xbox The New Xbox The Design & Features The Launch of Xbox 360 The Road Ahead

ISSUES COVERED
Examine the reasons for the unsuccessful launch of Xbox Understand the importance of product development strategies in the successful launch of a product Critically evaluate the features of Xbox 360

Study Xbox 360's convergence features.

Analyze the status and future prospects of the global gaming console industry

ABOUT MICROSOFT
Microsoft was founded in April 1975 as a partnership concern by
William H Gates (William Henry "Bill" Gates III) and Paul Allen. At this time, the duo had developed an improved version of BASIC16, which was distributed by Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems. In 1977, Microsoft introduced FORTRAN 17 and COBOL 18 languages for PCs. By the end of 1977, Microsoft had emerged as the market leader in microcomputer languages, with sales exceeding $1,000,000 In 1980, Microsoft bought an operating system called Q-DOS from a Seattle-based programmer for $50,000 and renamed it MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System).

CONT.

Soon, MS-DOS became the accepted standard for PCs. By 1983, 99% of the PC makers were using MS-DOS.

In 1983,Microsoft introduced a word processing system called Word 1.0. In 1984, Microsoft introduced
Multiplan, BASIC and Word 1.0 for Apples Macintosh computer.

It also upgraded MS-DOS for IBM.

In 1985, it introduced Windows 1.03, and the Excel spreadsheet for Macintosh. In 1986,Microsoft launched an initial public offering (IPO) and raised $61 million. In 1989, Microsoft introduced Microsoft Office.

MICROSOFT WITH GAMING ZONE

Microsofts interest in gaming dates back to 1983, when the company sold the game Microsoft Flight Simulator. In 1995,Windows 95 operating system was launched. This was followed by web browser and Internet explorer, MSN online service. In 1997, Internet Explorer 4.0 was released. In 1998, Windows 98operating system was released and Steve Ballmer (Ballmer) was appointed the President of Microsoft, while Gates remained its CEO and Chairman. Subsequent launches included Windows XP in 2001.

CONT
By 2000, Microsoft emerged as one of the top PC game marketing companies , with four titles in the top ten games, in PC gaming business valued at US$ 1.4 billion. Its gaming site www.zone.com had 12 million registered users at that time. Microsoft also acquired some game companies like FASA Interactive, Access Software, and entered into agreements with other companies to develop games. Some of the popular games from Microsoft were Age of Empires , Close Combat, Pandoras Box, Microsoft Golf, and Midtown Madness, among others.

CONT

Several popular gaming console manufacturers like Nintendo and Sony were looking at upgrading their consoles by making them Internet compatible. Though it was widely believed that Microsoft was keen on coming up with its own gaming console from 1999, it was only in March 2000 that Microsoft confirmed its entry into gaming. Microsoft announced that its gaming console would have Internet access, would allow multiplayer gaming and have movie quality graphics. Microsoft also announced that the console would be called Xbox. Microsoft estimated that its gaming console would be three times more powerful than the existing market leader PlayStation 2.

FINALLY THE X-BOX

Microsoft, the first American company to enter into the gaming business.

The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft.

It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market, and competed with Sony's PlayStation 2, Sega's Dreamcast, and Nintendo's GameCube. The integrated Xbox Live service launched in November 2002 allowed players to play games online

CONT

In 2000, Microsoft entered into agreements with more than 150 game developers to develop games for Xbox.

Microsoft entered into an alliance with Konami ,a game developer in Japan, which agreed to provide some of its famous titles like Jurassic Park and Metal Gear.
The Xbox was discontinued in late 2005 in Japan, late 2006 in Europe and early 2007 in North America. The last Xbox game was Madden NFL 09, released in August 2008. Support for out-of-warranty Xbox consoles was discontinued on March 2, 2009; any in-warranty repair now needed will not be undertaken and faulty consoles will be replaced with an Xbox 360 instead.

SOME FACTS N REVIEWS

To launch Xbox, in November 2001, Microsoft spent US$ 500 million covering advertising , retailer and third party software support, merchandising, and event sponsorships. Microsoft claimed that Xbox was three times more powerful than Sony PlayStation2. Industry experts also opined that though Microsoft had a good product, it went wrong in its marketing. The company created PR buzz, and began selling the console at a lower price, but failed to get good games for the console. The marketing failure was attributed to Microsofts lack of experience in this industry. Microsofts first foray into gaming was Xbox, which was launched in November 2001 more than a year after Sonys PlayStation2 was launched in the US.

UK ADVERTISING CONTROVERSY

In 2002 the Independent TelevisionCommission (ITC) banned a television advertisement for the Xbox in the United Kingdom after complaints that it was highly distasteful, violent, scary and upsetting. It depicted a mother giving birth to a small boy who was fired like a projectile through a hospital window and who aged rapidly as he flew through the air yelling. As he soared across a large area, he passed quickly through stages of his life as though time was passing him by. After aging into an old man, he crash-landed into his own grave. Dust and smoke poured from the grave. The advertisement ended with the slogan Life is short. Play more.

SALE RECORDS

On November 15, 2001, Xbox launched in North America and quickly sold out. The Xbox has sold 24 million units worldwide as of May 10, 2006, according to Microsoft. This is divided out to 16 million units sold in North America, six million units in Europe, and two million units sold in Japan. Overall, the Xbox was a success especially in North America. Sales were also positive in Europe, but Japan saw poor sales, with only 2 million units sold there.

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & STRATEGIES

In business and engineering, new product development (NPD) is the term used to describe the complete process of bringing a new product to market. There are two parallel paths involved in the NPD process: one involves the idea generation, product design and detail engineering; the other involves market research and marketing analysis. Companies typically see new product development as the first stage in generating and commercializing new products within the overall strategic process of product life cycle management used to maintain or grow their market share.

THE PROCESS

1) Idea Generation is often called the "fuzzy front end" of the NPD process.

2) Idea Screening
3) Concept Development and Testing 4) Business Analysis 5) Beta Testing and Market Testing 6) Technical Implementation 7) Commercialization 8) New Product Pricing

NPD STRATEGIES
Design for six sigma Flexible product development

Quality function deployment

Stage-Gate model User-centered design

POINTS TO BE CONSIDERED :

Have a well-defined product concept (which is where product-line architecture comes into play). Provide the agency with background information on its products and goals. Conduct necessary patent research, applying for new patents as needed. Have the manufacturing process in place and ready to go, either internally or via outsourcing. Have a formal business plan in place that defines funding of the project. Determine who will approve the marketing or advertising plan that the agency creates (the fewer people communicating with the agency, the better). Determine the proper timing for the launch.

THE XBOX 360

The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detailed launch and game information divulged later that month at theElectronic Entertainment Expo (E3) The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles. As of September 30, 2011, 57.6 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold worldwide

XBOX 360

Advantages: -Cheaper than the PS3 -The online community is larger than that of the PS3 -Lots of popular exclusives (although the same can be said for the PS3)

Disadvantages: -High failure rate, often exceeding 50% (again these values change from year to year) -Uses HD DVD's which are a little outdated and can hold less data than Blue-ray -Controllers are powered by batteries (but you can get wired ones) -You have to buy a wifi adaptor to play wireless -You have to pay per month to use xbox live.

DISCONTINUED MODELS

Xbox 360 Core (was an entry level Xbox 360) Xbox 360 Pro / Xbox 360 Premium (July 2007) Xbox 360 Elite ( was released in North America on April 29, 2007,Europe on August 24, 2007, and Australia on August 30, 2007) Xbox 360 Arcade (replaced the "Xbox 360 Core" as the entry level Xbox 360 on October 23, 2007) Xbox 360 Super Elite (November 10, 2009)

CURRENT MODELS (XBOX 360 S)

Technically designated the Xbox 360 S and marketed simply as the Xbox 360; a redesign of the Xbox 360 hardware which was officially announced on June 14, 2010. This new model brings built-in Wi-Fi 802.11N, compatibility with Kinect for Xbox 360, and 250GB HDD.

IMPROVED FEATURES

Form factor Touch sensitive buttons Whisper quiet Wi-Fi Hard Drive (250 GB HDD) USB slot (5 Slots) Wireless controller Backward compatible

Key Internal components changes

-FAN -CHIP SET (45 nanometer & integrated CPU & GPU) -Wi-Fi (integrated wireless compatibility)

XBOX LIVE

When the Xbox 360 was released, Microsoft's online gaming service Xbox Live was shut down for 24 hours and underwent a major upgrade, adding a basic nonsubscription service called Xbox Live Silver (later renamed Xbox Live Free) Xbox Live Marketplace (The Xbox Live Marketplace is a virtual market designed for the console that allows Xbox Live users to download purchased or promotional content.) Video store (On November 6, 2006, Microsoft announced the Xbox Video Marketplace, an exclusive video store accessible through the console.) Xbox Live Arcade (Xbox Live Arcade is an online service operated by Microsoft that is used to distribute downloadable video games to Xbox and Xbox 360 owners)