Back in the mid ’90’s, CD-i wanted to become the in-home media center: music, movies, and games. Granted lack of games was a killer, but it has been reported that the company realized it needed to focus on games if it were to succeed, but it was too late. They went out in 1996.
Is PS3 and Xbox taking the same route in trying to become the all-in-one home media center? Granted I’m not saying they’ll fail like the Philips box, but the all-in-one strategy has it’s obstacles. Do consumers really want an all-in-one system? The only reason I’m buying a Revolution is for the games. Period. I think the same holds true with those who will purchase the PS3 or 360. What do you think?
Anonymous
Phillips is misspelled: one L is enough.
Blake
Thanks. It has been corrected.
JeroenR
The question really is, do consumers really know what they want? I think the gut reaction of most consumers is, Yes we do want an all-in-one device. When they actually use such devices, they find they’re often difficult to use, and find that it does a mediocre job of a lot of things instead of one task really well. The success of the iPod is that it is a great music device, and it is mostly focused on that. Not too many extra features compared to competitors, but what it does it does really well.
I’m not sure how much of this will true for the next-gen consoles. PS3 and Xbox 360 want to be entertainment hubs, and I don’t think that will detract from their appeal as video game systems. They won’t be very innovative in that respect, but they’ll probably get away with it.