The war over the future of TV is in full throttle in a Microsoft/Apple world that does not consist of Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. We just wrote about the possibilities that Xbox Live could bring to social TV, and now Microsoft is about to roll out a new Xbox update that brings voice-controlled Kinect, Bing search and new content providers like Hulu Plus and NBC’s Today Show to its video experience.
The update will allow Xbox+Kinect users to navigate their TV sets with voice commands: “a single box that ties together all the content you want, made easily accessible through a universal, natural, voice-directed search,” explains James McQuivey of Forrester Research.
While the genius marketers at Apple have been using Siri to excite consumers about voice control with the iPhone 4S, Microsoft has swooped in to say, “You say it, Xbox finds it,” when it comes to your TV. While social TV data unleashes the possibility of discovery based on your connections, Xbox may be the first to solve the problem of finding — and watching — content you actually want (unlike Google TV, which provided search but lacked the content.)
“How long does it take you to search and find your favorite movie or TV show? Do you find yourself searching hundreds of channels and multiple services and TV inputs? What if the entertainment you craved was simple, discoverable and exactly what you wanted at that particular moment?” Queue up the scene from Back To The Future II (from 1989) where Marty McFly Jr. comes home, talks to his flat-screen TV and turns on six channels at once.
The company released a long list of the content that will be available in the release. Starting tomorrow the following TV partners will be available through Xbox in the United States and other countries.
- EPIX. United States
- ESPN on Xbox LIVE (ESPN). United States
- Hulu. Japan
- Hulu Plus. United States
- LOVEFiLM. United Kingdom
- Netflix. Canada, United States
- Premium Play by (MediaSet). Italy
- Sky Go (SkyDE). Austria, Germany
- Telefonica Espana – Movistar Imagenio. Spain
- TODAY (NBC News). United States
With many more coming after this week’s release including YouTube, Xfinity and HBO Go (“early 2012″).
While it’s still early to tell how good the search will be and how soon Apple might announce Siri for Apple TV, it’s definitely a good step for the outdated set top box. Now Microsoft needs some kind of Roku/Boxee type device — or an aggressive re-positioning campaign — so the non-gamers are compelled to jump on board.
“We’re making the entertainment experience more personal and social,” explains Xbox’s Marc Whitten. “Whether you are voting on who is going to win the weekend’s biggest college football showdown on ESPN or activating a beacon to notify your friends of your favorite multiplayer games, entertainment is more personal and social on Xbox LIVE.”
That new Beacon service, by the way, also hooks straight into Facebook (above), allowing gamers to put out a call to their friends to play a game together over Xbox Live. It will be interesting to see how long until Xbox extends that same social feature to watching a TV show or movie.
