Yankeez
03-29-2004, 11:32 AM
The price cuts will go into effect Tuesday.
Industry analysts and some Microsoft officials have been expecting Microsoft to cut the price for its Xbox for some time, but at $149.99, the new price is lower than some had expected.
At the moment, though, most believe it to be a smart move.
"I think it's enough for Microsoft because there's a pretty good opportunity for Microsoft to start to sell into households that already own PS2s," said John Taylor, an analyst with Arcadia Research, referring to Sony's PlayStation 2 game player.
Stewart Halpern of RBC Capital Markets agreed: "Microsoft gets no big advantage from cutting more."
Microsoft cut the suggested price for its Xbox game-playing console last May to $179.99 from $199.99 after Sony did the same for PlayStation 2, the industry's biggest-selling game machine.
Many retailers and game publishers had expected Microsoft to cut Xbox to $150 over the holidays but that never occurred. Nintendo was the only console manufacturer to reduce prices, lowering the GameCube to $99.
Source (http://money.cnn.com/2004/03/29/technology/personaltech/xbox/index.htm?cnn=yes)
Industry analysts and some Microsoft officials have been expecting Microsoft to cut the price for its Xbox for some time, but at $149.99, the new price is lower than some had expected.
At the moment, though, most believe it to be a smart move.
"I think it's enough for Microsoft because there's a pretty good opportunity for Microsoft to start to sell into households that already own PS2s," said John Taylor, an analyst with Arcadia Research, referring to Sony's PlayStation 2 game player.
Stewart Halpern of RBC Capital Markets agreed: "Microsoft gets no big advantage from cutting more."
Microsoft cut the suggested price for its Xbox game-playing console last May to $179.99 from $199.99 after Sony did the same for PlayStation 2, the industry's biggest-selling game machine.
Many retailers and game publishers had expected Microsoft to cut Xbox to $150 over the holidays but that never occurred. Nintendo was the only console manufacturer to reduce prices, lowering the GameCube to $99.
Source (http://money.cnn.com/2004/03/29/technology/personaltech/xbox/index.htm?cnn=yes)