Microsoft's Xbox-One

Introduction

As said by Kotler (2012), marketing assist companies to understand how important it is for an organization to change from a product focused operation to becoming both marketing and consumer focused operation. This analysis will be of a news article on Microsoft’s Xbox One shift of strategy prior to its launch in 2013. As written in the news article, Microsoft changed its marketing approach to compete with its competitor, Sony’s PlayStation 4. To further understand and ensure credibility of this news article, other news articles were taken into accord. As said by Barton (2014), both Sony and Microsoft have been competing in the next generation game console market since its launch in November 2013. Microsoft launched its Xbox One

The writer used references and figures from other interviews and reports to show credibility of his news article. This allows readers of this article to have a sense of professionalism and trust being delivered by the writer.

Appendix: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/microsofts-phil-harrison-xbox-one-kinect-ps4s-success-hats-off-sony-1455080 Key Theories and Approach

After analysing the news article, the writer addressed the key changes of the marketing approach Microsoft made to “catch up” with its competitor, Sony. In this analysis, the key theories of marketing mix and positioning were used to critically analyse the marketing approach that Microsoft made and argue its effectiveness based on the news article.

Marketing Mix

As stated by Lamb, Hair and McDaniel (2011), marketing mix involves combining different approach such as product, promotion, place and pricing, commonly known as the four Ps, to achieve common understanding with the target consumers or market. Based on the news article, the marketing mix theory will better assist in the analysis as it complements the key sections that were written in this article, for example, analysing the

Microsoft promotes its product, Xbox one, has multiple exclusive game titles for the users thus reinforcing that Xbox One is a gaming console. It is a different approach from what Microsoft did a year ago. In November 2013, Bass (2013) said Microsoft marketed Xbox One as set-up box use in the living room to watch online videos and live television, showing that it is more than a game console. However, the games cannot be pre-owned and the Kinect camera is mandatory. This was a failed approached which lead Microsoft being seconded by Sony.

Price

From the article, Sony had the advantage as their console was sold at a lower price compared to Xbox one. It further explained that Microsoft lowered the price by removing the mandatory requirement of the Kinect camera upon purchasing an Xbox One. A cross-reference with another article by Barton (2014) explained that an Xbox one console bundle, inclusive of the Kinect camera cost $449 however after removing the camera, the cost is $349 as a bundle. The price was almost equal to its competitor,