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Microsoft claims no price is set yet

by on17 June 2010
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On the offensive for Kinect $149 pricing

Microsoft is going out of their way to make sure that everyone knows that the pricing has not yet been set for Kinect. Those retailers that are already accepting pre-orders with a $149 price tag have not been informed by Microsoft that this is what the price will be. In fact, we have yet to see a price; and we believe retailers are just guessing.

Still, our sources tell us that while Microsoft might not have officially confirmed a $149 price tag, it seems that many retailers are sure that (at least before E3) this was the price Microsoft was hoping for. Once E3 is completed and now that Sony has shown its hand with Move, Microsoft is going to have to rethink its strategy. It will be hard for Microsoft to compete with Sony’s $99 price if Microsoft arrives at $149.

Sources tell us that the problem with Kinect has to do with an expensive manufacturing cost. As one source told us on the down low, “it is an amazing piece of engineering that currently uses a lot of technology that is still very expensive when you put it all together.” The reception of Kinect has been a bit more lukewarm than Microsoft might have expected; and without the kind of compelling titles to make Kinect fly off the shelves, Microsoft could be looking at investing a lot of money to build Kinect into a winner.

Our sources think Microsoft isn’t beyond losing money on the Kinect hardware just to promote the software sales, and it could come down to that.

Last modified on 20 June 2010
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