Remember when Xbox was just a games console? The black box that now sits under my TV does everything from entertain my family with movies (streamed from Netflix usually), soothes us with music from Xbox music (including playlists that roam to across my devices seamlessly) and is now my fitness trainer thanks to Nike+ Kinect Training. In fact last week marked the 10 year anniversary of Xbox LIVE – a service that many saw as a gamble back when it launched but is now one of those things that’s just obvious. I mean, why WOULDN’T you want an Ethernet port in the back of your console (or WiFi these days)?
I now regularly use all of the features mentioned without even thinking about playing a game. Sure, I play Forza Horizon when I get a moment, but Xbox is so much more than my games console now. It’s grown up well over the last ten years.
As Microsoft evolves to be a devices and services company, Xbox is at the heart of that shift. It’s going to be a recurring theme here on NEXT over the coming months I explore what devices and services really means.
