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"Microsoft - an expanding monopoly"

A monopoly is an organization, which has power of control, which is not shared, by other people or groups. Just so every one knows.

All markets have different characteristics. And one of the main ways in which they differ is in the number of competing firms. The number of firms has a major impact on the level of competition in a market. Microsoft owns 95% or more of the world market for PC operating systems. The other 5% or so is made up of companies, which make operating systems that are made spastically for the buyer (only big business need this kind of operating system). As Microsoft owns this much of the market share this means they are a ‘virtual monopoly’, so they can control the 2 main of business strategy, which are:

Pricing decisions
Promotion decisions

So this means that Microsoft can charge nearly any price they want for their operating systems. They don’t have to advertise their operating systems, as we have no other alternates to buy. So Microsoft don’t have spend money on advertising, and they can charge high prices for their operating systems, so that Microsoft can make big money on operating systems.

Now for the main point. I think that Bill Gates is trying to expand his multibillion-dollar monopoly into other electronic departments. I also think that he wants Microsoft to own 95% of the worlds total market share. His first move was to enter the console market, a market that is hard to become the big cheese in. He also entered the telephone market; buy realising his own Microsoft branded telephone. To make it big in the games market he decided to realise the most powerful console to see if the main determents of buying a console is power. So he sent the most powerful console on to the market against Sony and Nintendo to see is he could beat the longest surviving games console producer and last years console winner.

His first strategic move is making all game producers make x-box only games, leaving its competitors with only the games that they produce. They started with Rare, which is making a direct assault on Nintendo by taking away one of its main game producers. This shows that Bill Gates wants to take Nintendo out of the gaming market, as getting rid of the oldest game producers which are starting to get boring, you can only have a certain amount of the same type of game.

So far Microsoft’s x-box is keeping up with Nintendo’s lower priced but less powerful machine. Obviously Microsoft wants to boost the sales of the x-box over Christmas by dropping the price of the console. They are doing this by putting out many TV advertisements; they are using adverts everywhere, in cinemas, in football stadiums, at buts stops, anywhere there target audience is they will advertise. The only way they can fund such a wide spread operation, is the money they are getting from there operating systems monopoly, without that money they would have to use the profits from the x-box’s sales, witch would of been spent on the rare buy, or on advertising. Even if they did use every bit of profit they have got from the x-box they still wouldn’t be able to pay for such a big operation.

Will Microsoft be able to turn the console market into a monopoly like it has done to the operating systems market? Will Microsoft be able to become the most popular console in the UK? They will have to focus on becoming the best console next time they make one, but will that beat Sony the double console war winner? (it looks like will win again at this point in time)

Sorry if I seem offensive to Microsoft, Bill Gates or the x-box, but I could not word it any other way as it would be to hard to make the point seem clear.

Thanks for reading (if you did)

Morbo

As you say microsoft had losses from the Xbox and thats all i was saying.



Adam: The King

Hmmm... either way I want the Xbox to crash and burn.

Oh and have you checked out the topic about Nintendo getting a law suite action over SONY becuase of some contract that they made while the SNES and Playstation were around; supposedly SONY broke the contract so Nintedo get all/most of the Playstation 1 profits from then onwards; Nintendo have also legal rights over the name "Playstation" so the Playsation 3 will have to be named differently after all.

Sony this one goes out to you....... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!


Adam. C: AKA "Elimin@tor"

the PS3 will have to be called differntly if sony still have good enogh funding to still make another console. does this mean sony are out and nintendo will have enogh money to make a superior console than microsoft, or will nintendo still be out of the running and microsoft will take over the console market like i predicted. hummm inetresting.

Eventually- MS will have a large market share in the Console business. Perhaps with Xbox 2 or even that Homestation rumour that was going a while back.

Xbox lost MS something like £350 last year I think. But as someone pointed out MS makes Billions every year so it's not so much an issue. MS being in the industry has been great. A great console, great online service, great games, all for great value and thats only after 1 years influence in the market.

no matter what belldandy says, microsoft will NEVER make a profit on the X-box.

you cannot up the price of a console. they are now stuck with loosing money on every console they sell. and with some of the top hardware out for free, they may never make it up software wise.

I agree with Boss pac man 2, the xbox is not much of a profit earner everywhere in the world, when cmpared to the profit margin in Japan the Xbox is only just equal in profit than the PS1 just because of MS not holding a claim of a japanese factory.

MS should have made a claim over the japanese market way before he tried to sell the Xbox over there, since it costs him even more money to export it to a company who doesn't created the game on the already.