Thursday, January 06, 2005

Gates Showcases Technology Breakthroughs, Alliances and Market Momentum That Bring Microsoft's Digital Lifestyle Vision to Life

Gates Showcases Technology Breakthroughs, Alliances and Market Momentum That Bring Microsoft's Digital Lifestyle Vision to Life: Microsoft CES highlights:
"# An agreement with MTV Networks (MTVN) that will create new ways for consumers to access MTV content through a variety of digital entertainment products. As part of this agreement, MTV intends to launch a new PlaysForSure (TM) -compliant MTVN digital music service with portable subscription capabilities.
# New digital music and video devices that expand Microsoft's PlaysForSure logo program to more than 50 currently verified devices and seven online services, ranging from small, low-cost, flash-based players to full-featured hard-disk-based units and forthcoming network-connected high-definition televisions (HDTVs) and DVD players. Gates also announced that 90 million copies of Windows Media Player 10 have been downloaded since its launch in October.
# Continued momentum around interactive entertainment, with Media Center PC sales doubling year over year, surpassing 1.4 million units globally and growing by 40 percent in just three months
# An agreement with BellSouth Corp. to test next-generation TV services using Microsoft TV IPTV Edition
# Strong momentum for the Xbox system, with industry-leading sales for the 2004 holiday season, and expected sales of more than 20 million consoles by July 2005. The 'Halo 2' game generated $125 million in revenue in its first weekend of availability, surpassing the biggest opening weekend in box-office history, for 'Spiderman,' which generated just under $115 million.
# A new collaboration with TiVo Inc. that will enable TiVo subscribers to easily transfer their recorded TV content from a standalone TiVo Series 2 standalone digital video recorder to their Windows XP-based and Media Center PCs, Windows Mobile (TM) -based Portable Media Centers, Pocket PCs or Smartphones using new TiVoToGo software"

The TiVoToGo model makes Portable Media Center devices a lot more interesting, but I'm not thrilled with the prospect of kids watching MTV junk on their schoolbuses etc.

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