Xbox One To Get Pandora, Vevo, Popcornflix And More Apps This Week
Microsoft might have said that they're done shipping their big Xbox One software updates for the year — but that doesn't mean they can't release a few new toys in the form of apps. — The company has just announced five …
Context & Ripple Effects
In late 2014 Microsoft was still curating its Xbox One app lineup by hand — Pandora, Vevo and Popcornflix arrive in one announced batch, slotted in after the year's big system updates wrapped. That hand-picked model didn't last long: three months later Microsoft launched the Xbox One SDK so any developer could build apps for the console.
The streaming-app drip continued for years afterward — sources reported a Spotify app being tested internally for Xbox One in 2017, and the October 2018 update added Dolby Vision support for Netflix alongside voice control. This week's batch is an early data point in Microsoft treating the console as a living-room media platform, not just a games box.
First-order effects
- Pandora, Vevo and Popcornflix gain a TV-screen distribution channel overnight, reaching Xbox One owners without building console-specific hardware deals of their own.
- Microsoft gets to keep Xbox One feeling updated through the holidays despite having declared the big software releases done for the year.
Second-order effects
- Once app curation proves valuable enough to do manually, the economics push toward opening the pipeline — which is exactly what the 2015 SDK did, shifting Microsoft's role from gatekeeper of batches to provider of a build-and-ship platform.
Third-order effects
- If the cadence holds, the console's competitive surface stops being launch titles and becomes continuous OS-plus-app updates, as later seen when Microsoft shipped avatars, Netflix Dolby Vision and Alexa/Cortana control in a single 2018 update.
The trend: Game consoles are evolving into continuously updated entertainment platforms where third-party app availability, not just exclusive games, drives the purchase decision.