Microsoft Planning Portable Xbox Gaming Console ... Finally Maybe

Microsoft could well be planning to launch a mobile gaming platform by extending its existing popular Xbox brand; it would also play catching up with rivals Nintendo and Playstation as well as newcomer Apple with its iPhone.

In an interview with online website Kikizo, Microsoft Corporate VP Shane Kim - in charge of strategy and business confirmed that for Microsoft, "it's a matter of focusing on 'when" because if they "had chased after a mobile or handheld opportunity", they wouldn't have the resources to focus on things like Project Natal.

He added that "So 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 will there be a major Xbox 360 portable platform or will it integrate (and permeate) other existing platforms like Windows Mobile?

One thing though is for sure and Kim DID stressed this point, Microsoft will try to make the Xbox Live available on as many platform as possible, as quickly as possible. Hence it is likely that the Xbox Live platform ends up being Microsoft's answer to Apple's iTunes.

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