There Will be Some Sort of XBox Handheld . . . Eventually

Kikizo has a recent interview with XBox VP Shane Kim about the future of the XBox. Most of the interview centered around how the console will develop in the living room, with tidbits about Natal and XBox live, but eventually the topic came around to handhelds and the advances in digital content distribution pioneered by Apple. Sony's PSP and Nintendo's DS have both been changing and improving in response to Apple's iPhone/iPod Touch challenge, and Kikizo wondered how Microsoft and Xbox would respond.

On the third page if the interview, Kikizo pints out that Microsoft already has the content distribution channel sorted out with XBox Live. As far as an XBos handheld goes:

we've chosen to focus on the living room experience from a hardware standpoint, if you will, but we're building a service in Live that will... will extend to other platforms. No question about it. So the question will be, how do we enter into that market - do we do our own device, do we create our own phone - that's a question for the company itself - do we continue to go down the Windows Mobile path, which is that path that we're on today, etcetera, etcetera. But believe me, we understand the importance of that device in people's lives.

I'll be curious to see how an XBox handheld will differentiate itself from the PSP, DS and iPhone. Will it try to be everything and more? Or will it find something unique to offer and concentrate on that? It's going to be interesting to find out, that's for sure.