Reports have indicated that a bundle featuring the Xbox 360 and Kinect with a price tag of around $99 will be launched by Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) soon. This bundle will require customers to sign up for a two-year subscription to Xbox Live at $15 each month.
The bundle will give customers the 4G model of the Xbox 360 although they will have access to the Gold service of Xbox Live and will have a two-year warranty. Video streaming will also be available to customer from sports or cable package providers. An early termination fee will be implemented for customers who may want to end the two-year subscription early.
Current members of the Xbox Live Gold service have access to content coming from ESPN, Netflix, Epix movie streaming, Crackle of Sony, Hulu Plus, TMZ, MLB.TV, HBO Go, Vudu and Syfy. This is in addition to the games that users can play on their Xbox 360 consoles.
Xbox 360
Some industry watchers have also indicated that the bundle with the Xbox 360 and Kinect may be reasonable enough since users will have to pay a total of $460 for two years. The cheapest gold subscription of the Xbox Live for two years is around $420. This indicates that the initial payment for the Xbox 360 bundle will be lower and the cost of the subscription will be spread out to two years.
The last time the entry-level model of the Xbox 360 received a reduction on its price tag was on September 2008 following the reduction of the price of the Xbox 360 Arcade to around $199. The latest model of the Xbox 360 was unveiled in 2010 and the earlier models of the console were reduced by around $50.
The latest Xbox 360 bundle of Microsoft appears to be a part of the plan of the company to go up against rival home entertainment systems including the Sony PlayStation 3 and the Apple TV.
