Did anyone see yesterday's WSJ with that article regarding Microsoft's new project codenamed Freon? This is the product that reportedly combines an Xbox and a PVR. Today I see this article:http://www.theinquirer.net/02070207.htm citing a Taiwanese newspaper reporting that Microsoft will unveil version of the Xbox at the Taipei International Computer Application exhibition next month. Next month! I wonder if this is Freon, or just a smaller form version of the Xbox that is cheaper to produce. Here's an excerpt from the article, "paraphrased." (Im looking your way, Dan) A REPORT IN Taiwanese newspaper the Economic News said that Microsoft will unveil its intermediary Xbox games console at the Taipei International Computer Application exhibition in early August. And the newspaper adds that Wistron will assemble the new machines at a factory on the Chinese mainland. Microsoft already uses Flextronics so Wistron will be the second supplier. The newspaper adds that Microsoft is to adopt a different pricing model for the machine, using its Taiwanese suppliers to buy seasonally in order to give it an edge against both Sony and Nintendo.
I'm betting this is simply a lower-cost version with more silicon integration. Smaller boards, fewer chips.
I hope this turns out to be an XBox '1.5' type upgrade -- hopefully smaller, with a larger hard drive, and lower manufacturing costs. We'll see though.
I think its probably going to be a bigger HDD that is partitioned (one part for games, the other for the Ultimate TV type stuff) and will probably be the size of the normal XB.
Anything printed at The Inquirer need be taken with a grain of salt. Rumors are commonly reported as fact there. Anything other than a cheaper to produce varient of the Xbox (PS2 is on it's 3rd version now) would be impossible to market at this point. I'd take Freon rumors as an early glimpse of Xbox2 which, with any luck, we won't see for another 4 1/2 years.
