Here is a very interesting article written by Patrick Klepek over at the Multi Player Blog at MTV.com that asks if the Microsoft Live Anywhere Initiative is dead? For those of you who do not know what the Live Anywhere Initiative is take a look back at the Wikipedia page for more details. In a nutshell Live Anywhere is Microsofts global plan for dominance of our digital lifestyle where they want us to be able to access their services from anywhere at anytime through Windows, Xbox and now Zune.

Patrick asks if the Live Anywhere Initiative is dead and I don’t understand how he came to this conclusion really. I think that Zune is actually the most important component to the Live Initiative. I think Zune will cover most if not all of the mobile components and is not limited to just music and phones. I realize that everyone has been waiting for a mobile Xbox platform to arrive but I think its already here in the form of Zune. I think that Xbox will be reserved as the home entertainment console with a focus on HD movies and IPTV which I think will make an obvious partner with Xbox as the preferred content delivery method of the future. There will not be a mobile Xbox game player or platform, its going to be Zune Game Players. I believe that Zune is the mobile platform and the “Anywhere” aspect of the Live Anywhere Initiative that is still very much alive. It’s progressing just fine but what our friend Patrick has missed is that it will not be developed under the Xbox brand as so many expected it would be it will be under the new brand of Zune.

My money lies on a portable game player from Zune and not Xbox. What better way to insure the success of the Zune brand then to build the mobile game player on that platform? It won’t matter what they call it they mobile game player from Microsoft is a sure success and by building it on the Zune platform they guarantee the success of their new mobile entertainment and communications platform. Once they integrate more Windows Mobile and Live features into the Zune game and music players the convergence of Live Anywhere exists. The Live Platform is all of the Microsoft services including Windows, Windows Mobile, Xbox and now Zune. It began as Xbox Live with the games because that was the easiest to generate a community with and they will slowly make it a Microsoft portal with access to everything Live. This should make it easier to understand why Microsoft has been dumping billions into Xbox when you see that it was about much more than just games and why they will dump billions into Zune which is about much more than just music.
MTV Multiplayer » We Asked Microsoft: Is That ‘Live Anywhere’ Initiative Dead?

At the Microsoft’s press briefing at E3 2006, Bill Gates came on stage to introduce Live Anywhere, an ambitious company initiative to integrate the Xbox 360 experience into everyday life via mobile phones.Nearly two years later, Live Anywhere has yet to materialize.

Is Live Anywhere dead? Here’s what Xbox Live exec. John Schappert (who took the stage for Microsoft’s keynote at GDC this year) told Multiplayer in an e-mailed statement:

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I guess we all understand why the HD drives in the Xbox 360 are external components don’t we? Lots of people faulted Microsoft for making the HD drive an external attachment but it was obviously a smarter move than making the same drive an internal component wasn’t it? No one could know who would win the format war and Microsoft hedged their bets by choosing the HDDVD drive in partnership with Toshiba by making it an add on component that can easily be changed over for another drive in the future.

Making the 360 a modular system was smarter in many ways. It helps keep the cost of the base unit lower and gets more users on your consoles. This is a safer bet then the move Sony made by including the Blu Ray player in the Playstation 3 whereby they have priced themselves above many entrants to the market and made themselves a high end system trying to compete with more affordable consoles like the 360 or Wii. Sony is sitting pretty now that the format war is over but they took one hell of a risk by integrating the Blu Ray and had this format war gone the other way this discussion would more likely be about the death of Sony and the Playstation than it is about a potential partnership between 2 of the top 3 console makers in the industry.

Microsoft has no problem in shifting sides, gears or partnerships and they will gladly open up to a partnership with Sony and include a Blu Ray device for the Xbox 360 in the near future I am certain. Why else would they have built the 360 with an external drive connection? What other choice does Microsoft have even? They are not going to develop some other format are they? No. They have no other choice but to concede a portion of future HD drive sales to Sony for every 360 sold if they want their player to be compatible with the only HD format available any longer. Don’t they?

And what about Sony? Do you think they will keep the Blu Ray a proprietary system and force Microsoft to develop an alternative or do you think they will settle for a slice of all HD drive sales on future Xbox units by establishing the Blu Ray as the HD standard for all game platforms? Do you think they want to risk the victory they have just claimed as the only HD format available? No. Sony will gladly take a piece of HD drive sales on Xbox because they know that at some point in the future all HD players will be Blu Ray and Sony will make money on every game console their competitors sell.
Sony Reportedly Discussing Blu-ray Xbox With Microsoft

Sony turned to Microsoft for a possible Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360, a senior executive told the Financial Times yesterday. On one hand, Microsoft has always supported the HD DVD format, which is now dead and buried, while Sony said they wanted to adjust to the consumers’ needs. After all, if we think of it, as there is no more HD DVD, what can the two companies do but talk?Everyone is curious to know how this collaboration would materialize in terms of prices, as Sony has kept a pretty high price tag on its Blu-ray so far. The question is: is Sony ready to give up the advantage the PS3 has now over Microsoft’s Xbox 360? As it appears, they’re nor afraid of a little competition, and that’s not all, as Sony will also get some great revenue from a Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360.

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