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Microsoft Promo: a PC and Xbox In Every Dorm Room
theodp writes "Can Microsoft woo students into trying Windows 7 PCs? Well, starting on May 22nd, Microsoft will try to do so by giving away free Xbox 360 4GB consoles to high-school or college students who purchase new Windows 7 PCs priced at $699 and up. A Guess Who's Coming to College? teaser video for the promotion features a Halo Spartan's HS graduation ceremony."
I guess you could sell the xbox and use the money to buy games for the PC.
Yes, because every marketing campaign is done out of "desperation".
No teen/twenties or anyone else will pick OSX instead of Windows if he/she plays games. Which is exactly the target audience with bundling PC and Xbox360.
What does it smell like when ipods are given away with every apple computer purchased by a student? Apple usually has this same promo every summer.
Wasn't it just a week ago when the antitrust oversight over MS ended?
Obviously this is a response to Apple's back-to-school promotion, which they have run for several years. Last year that program got you exactly the same amount in credit ($199) towards any iPod when you bought any Apple laptop.
One advantage of the Apple program is that you could trade up and get a higher priced iPod touch model and still get the $199 in credit. It looks like the Microsoft program only gets you the slightly gimped 4GB Xbox with no trade-up. A lot of students might be bummed when they realize they need a $100 hard drive accessory to play a lot of the games.
Not a bad deal, but I wonder how many Xboxes will be given to students who were going to buy a laptop anyway. I think the Apple motivation is obvious: to get students to switch to Apple. Not sure if the formula works the same with Microsoft.
- "When you want something with all your heart, the entire universe conspires to give it to you" -Paulo Coelho
Apple has been giving out iPod's with laptop purchases for years now. If anything this is MS just trying to counter balance that. Seems like a win-win for consumers. Maybe Apple will step up their offering and give iPad's with laptop purchases now.
I guess you could sell the xbox and use the money to buy games for the PC.
Provided that the games you want to play are even ported to the PC. The PC is stuck on the old version of Street Fighter IV, while the Xbox 360 has the current version.
No this is exactly the direction i expected them to go. Like it or not, the Xbox is poised to be THE cheap, full featured modern cable box in the streaming era. You can buy a brand new Xbox for $200 and MS still makes a profit on it, and big opportunities to sell you more intangible stuff. Its a great loss leader since people see 'oooo hardware' .Give away the tangible, sell the intangible, very very smart.
Good-bye
Well, you have to admit that an Xbox is pretty big for a marketing freebie. We are not talking about free pens and calendars here.
The chain of reasoning here could be: College freshmen buy new computers, so there is a market there > They need to choose between MS, Apple, Linux > We need to make them go with Windows, so let's throw in an Xbox there > Help spread Win7 *and* make revenue from Xbox game sales.
I don't think that this marketing campaign is targeted to the teens that play games. It is targeted to the teens that are buying a computer for college, i.e. office, work (which will also help with MS-Office sales). If it was targeted to the gaming crowd it would be the other way around: e.g. a free netbook for every Xbox sale.
Because iPhones don't play games, and Portal 2, The Sim 3, The Rift, StarCraft 2, WoW, and other top-selling games aren't available on Mac.
Oh wait - they do, and they are. Welcome to 2011.
There are 4 ways for something like this to work out financially for MS. 1) Either an Xbox 360's true manufacturing cost in 2011 is a mere 50 - 70 dollars a unit (ageing hardware + economies of scale from manufacturing tens of millions of them). 2) Or people who choose to become "Windows PC users" for the next 5 - 10 years will get shafted out of money so frequently and in so many different little ways that the cost of the free Xbox becomes negligible in the long run. 3) Or the creation cost of 1 unit of a typical Xbox 360 game works out at 3 - 5 dollars a pop while the retail price for the same unit is 40 dollars, so the profit made from selling a few games cancels out the cost of giving away a free console. 4) Or the next Xbox 2012 or whatever they will call it is R&D and almost ready to launch and MS banks on the fact that the free Xbox 360 users will willingly fork out dollar 699 or so to upgrade to the new Xbox 2012.
Why did the chicken cross the road? Because Elon Musk put an AI chip in its head.
That's what I thought too, I mean, is it really much different than the free iPods Apple was giving out with computer purchases? But then, if you look closely at the numbers, it really is different.
Apple typically has a 30% markup on their products, which means they could give away an iPod and they might still end up with a bit of profit.
Microsoft on the other hand, doesn't make the hardware, and although the profit margins are obscene on Windows, they are still only making $50-$100 for each computer sale. That's not enough to cover the hardware costs on an Xbox, so they are losing $100-$150 for each sale here. (note: all numbers are estimates).
Obviously they think it is worth it, but why? Is it because they are worried about competition from Apple? I don't know, but it seems just as likely that Ballmer is a maniacal spendthrift, who thinks any price is worth paying to crush the competition.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
by these commentors...
You buy a cheap PC, where Microsoft makes money from the license for Win7, they throw in a CHEAP 360 (basically the Arcade version, which I believe is is like 150-200$). After you've got a nice new free console, what do you do? Buy another controller (money to MS), buy some games (more money), buy xbox live (more money), buy a new hard drive for more space (more money), etc. This isn't desperation at all, this is just another way for Microsoft to make gobs of money. If they had given away an Elite Xbox, then there would be less money re-couped but they would still end up making a profit in the long run.
This is directed (like they say) at college kids, going to school for the first time and looking for a new computer.. AND A FREE CONSOLE?! HOLY SHIT! That sounds like a great deal to me, now I can go to school and play Xbox with all my friends and I don't have to shell out an extra 200$ for the console!
I don't understand how people aren't getting this..
Yes, because every marketing campaign is done out of "desperation".
He didn't say anything about any other marketing campaign.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
most people stick with what they know