Boston (TheNextXbox) – Microsoft is starting to make a major impact in terms of developing its own consumer electronics. With the next-generation Xbox 360 successor the Xbox 720 just around the corner, will Microsoft leverage its popularity to help push Microsoft Surface sales?
They really made a mark with the original Xbox and the Xbox 360, and since then they have launched their own Apple iPad killer the Microsoft Surface, and are rumored to be close to buying a significant piece of the computer manufacturer Dell, which they could turn into their own computer manufacturing business.
Microsoft launched the Microsoft Surface tablet that runs on Windows 8 RT this past fall, as a way to jump into the tablet market and steal sales away from the Apple iPad as well as the Google Android tablets.
The fact of the matter though is that the Microsoft Surface has not done that well at retail thus far. This is due to several reasons, but the biggest of which is that many people have already invested so much money in the Apple App Store on the Apple iPad, or the Google Play store on their Android tablet, that they do not want to change over.
The reality is that consumers need a reason to want the Microsoft Surface, and by leveraging it with the Xbox 720, they may have found a way to really try and drive the tablet sales.
Nintendo has already shown hat a tablet controller can really work, and Microsoft already started to push its SmartGlass technology on iPad and Android tablets.
What they could do is utilize the Microsoft Surface and its power to unlock abilities in the next-generation Xbox. This could include the ability to control the Xbox 720 with the Surface tablet, video-chat over Xbox Live with the Surface tablet, and more.
Finally, here is a serious possibility that Microsoft is going to try and incorporate the Microsoft Surface tablet as a gameplay option for many games, perhaps some Xbox Live Arcade titles that could be played on both the tablet and the Xbox 720.
At the end of the day, the Xbox is the most popular brand Microsoft has and if it is serious about competing with Google and Apple in the tablet market, smartphone market, and so on, they may want to leverage the brand to try and push sales of other products.
You must have seen SmartGlass when you came up with the whole cross-platform thing, huh.