After nearly a year of sidestepping questions about plans to launch its Xbox games console in Hong Kong and China, Microsoft is gearing up to bring the US$200 device to the SAR in September, according to industry sources.
The plans are said to include a marketing blitz featuring a Canto-pop star, with the aim of displacing Sony's Playstation 2 as the most popular console within two years.
Prices are expected to be set slightly higher than in other markets initially and drop by Christmas, sources said. Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore are part of Microsoft's Asia Pacific plans for Xbox, while a mainland offering is yet to be confirmed.
Company officials were not available for comment yesterday, though spokeswoman Anne Costello of the AugustOne public relations firm said Microsoft had firm plans for regional markets beyond Japan and Australia. 'We'll be announcing these expansion plans in the next few weeks,' she said.
Xbox consoles are already available in Hong Kong as grey-market imports from Japan or the United States, with prices starting at around HK$1,400 at local computer malls. So far, Microsoft has released the Xbox in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
In markets where Xbox has launched, the price was brought down to the current US$200 earlier this year in order to compete with cuts by Sony and Nintendo's GameCube.