Episode Notes
- Video cards
- Surface Duo reviews
- Cant turn them on during the review
- Software must have been buggy
- Very very thing and thats impressive
- Has to be a second phone
- Dont even call it a phone
- Signal and other messaging
- Require it to be your single phone
- Signal requires it to be one phone. But you can signal get its messages from your phone.
- iMessage is a key service that benefits from Apples end to end control.
- XBox is $35 a month with nothing upfront. That’s really interesting.
- John doesnt shop this way but HMS does it, startups do this for online retailers so they must work.
- It’s actually cheaper to do the month subscription than the flat rate.
- Most people go for the more expensive.
- Kids have an easier sell to parent
Gaming hardware as a service
This is going to be a short one but I am really curious about this idea that Microsoft is pushing paying for the xBox through a monthly subscription instead of all at once. Pushing it so hard in face that users actually save money on the monthly plan, assuming you were going to get the online subscription anyway. And thats a huge part of what Microsoft’s product marketing team is trying to do is make the online subscription feel essential. Convince a group that had been playing for consoles and individual games that Netflix for video games was here and theres no looking back. But I’m sure theres a lot of folks who dont think thats true.
The Apple angle on this is interesting too, when you really think about how this was going to work how many subscribers to game pass wouldnt also want the xbox itself for another $20 a month? With this kind of arrangement i can imagine very few people, and anyone who does feeling pretty tricked when they do sign up for it on the phone. UNLESS they could signup for the full subscription that way including the hardware. But does that get them around the App Store purchases rule? That’s really interesting to consider how apple would respond to that. Seems like following the letter of the rules that wouldn’t have to use IAP at all
Brilliant or lucky shot on Microsofts part? Will apple even care what Microsoft’s argues?