Microsoft to be mkt leader in gaming console biz: Ballmer

Q: So Microsoft acquired Groove some time back and now we are beginning to see the integration of groove with the rest of the office products, it is kind of becoming central to communication for Microsoft, explain how that will help office users a bit more?

A: Let's say we have a group of people to come together on a project and work together and collaborate and publish their results; how do we share, how do we keep each other up-to-date? Today, we send around a bunch of random email messages. But with the new Microsoft Office, with groove technology built in, we make that simple and transparent and groovy.

Q: The next thing is ZUNE and the hot part is that Microsoft is trying to compete with a very established player, which almost has about 80% of market share. How do you see that going forward because there are quite a lot of parties which have to get involved - like the entertainment community, users, accessory builders have to get involved. So there is a lot of it that has to happen. Give us an update about where things are at this point in time as far as ZUNE is concerned?

A: We are launching ZUNE here in the next week or so and we have really taken a point of view, we have said that entertainment is not just about the content itself but the way you interact around that content with your friends.

We have said that our digital entertainment experience, our player is going to involve community. We built in wireless networking, for example, if you and I want to exchange a photo, I can just scoot it over to you. If you have a song that I want to hear because we have negotiated these rights with the artist, you can shoot it, I can listen to it for a few times, and then buy it.

Q: The ZUNE has wi-fi. Why did you enable the functionality to buy songs directly on the ZUNE via wi-fi network?

A: You will see what comes later.

Q: So it is a functionality, which could come by in future?

A: This is all software. We have a basic set of very powerful set of capabilities but of course, we can add things.

Q: What about ZUNE’s evolution, now IPOD has got 4-5 variants and the most popular variant obviously remains which is the cheapest, the Shuffle. Now do we see more ZUNEs coming out of Microsoft anytime soon?

A: You have to wait and see what you see.

Q: What about the XBox 360. Everybody is more confident that now Microsoft will have a more competitive stance as far as this generation is concerned. But then again, the other players are coming out greater innovations. How do you see yourself in this market a year from now, what are your strengths?

A: I think we could be the market leader a year from now. We are in the market, we have got the best games, we have the best online experience, we have got the best price point with the exception of Vie, which has a narrow demographic. So we are the market leader today, we will be the market leader in six months and we will be the market leader in a year.

Q: Quite a lot of game developers who have been developing for the XBox have loved that because it is so easy. But for the next generation, Microsoft is talking about doing everything on its own. You are talking about building your CPU by yourself, till now CPU has come from IBM, there are rumours that Microsoft is going to build everything by itself? What is the reason for that?

A:  I have no idea, I am not responsible for rumours.

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