Robbie Bach, Head of Xbox, talked to Tech Flash at CES and had some interesting things to say.
He talked about the Xbox 360, Zune, Blu-ray, and Microsoft Auto, some of which was mentioned in the Microsoft Keynote.
The interview is a pretty aggressive Q&A that puts Bach on the spot in some key issues that could possibly be telling of Microsoft's future plans.
When asked about mixing music with the windows mobile experience he responded "Those are things I can't talk about," protecting the possibility of the "Zune Phone?"
They also discussed the Xbox 360 and one of its potential shortcomings. When asked if the Xbox 360 will ever see Blu-ray integration, Bach responds, "We have no plan to do that."
When asked why, Bach says, "from a technical perspective, it doesn't help us in the core of what Xbox does, which is in gaming. We can't have publishers produce games on Blu-ray disc. Because then they won't play on the 28 million Xboxes we've already shipped. So it doesn't help us in the core gaming space."
He also had a few other points on the subject, "it costs a lot of money. And so the scenario is, OK, let me get this straight: I'm going to add something to the product that's going to raise the cost, which means the price goes up, consumers aren't asking for it, and by the way, my game developers can't use it."
The subject is then shifted to the 30GB Zune and its recent mishap. When asked if he owns a 30GB Zune, Bach responds, "I do, actually. It turns out my daughter has it, and she didn't have it with her on the 31st. So it was fine."
He explains the cause of failure on December 31, "it's not our software, but that doesn't change anything. We're responsible for everything that's in the product. It doesn't show up in any other version of the product. All of the other devices are fine. It's just that first Zune 30, which was done through a different process."
The interview closes out talking about Microsoft Automotive, Bach explains, "automakers are going to look for ways to differentiate, and to make sure volume keeps moving. And certainly Sync and what we do there with Ford, and Windows Automotive with what we do with other people is absolutely the way to drive that differentiation."
Source: TechFlash
