Gadgets and gizmos

Microsoft’s Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer announced their plans to roll out a new Xbox TV service this holiday season, in a meeting with analysts this past week. The TV service will be available on the Xbox 360 console and will enable users to stream select TV shows.

The CEO said that the Xbox team and Microsoft are working with “dozens of video content suppliers” and these options will be made available in addition to live TV. He also touted the Xbox TV service’s Kinect functionality, particularly its Bing search functionality, which will be introduced with the next major update of Xbox Live later this year.

The company believes so strongly in its Bing search engine, that they think that it will make them succeed where other companies, such as Google and Apple, have failed.

“Having all of that content is right on, it’s fantastic, but it brings a new challenge with it,” said Ballmer. “Certainly we all know the frustrations of using guides and menus and controllers, and we think a better way to do all of this is simply to bring Bing and voice to Xbox. You say it, Xbox finds it.”

However, Ballmer did not give details on the content deals and the pricing for the upcoming service. It was reported that the service will be benefiting from a very strong user base, as Microsoft is believed to have sold 55 million units of Xbox 360s worldwide, as well as 35 million subscriptions for Xbox Live. The company has also sold more than 10 million Kinect peripherals.

Is Microsoft’s new Xbox TV streaming service going to be a success?

via: IT Pro Portal