That’s how Microsoft and Amazon will change the futuristic supermarket

Amazon became this Monday for the first time in history in the most valuable company on the planet after unseating Microsoft on the world throne. The company founded and headed by Jeff Bezos achieved a market capitalization of 797,780 million dollars -697,000 million euros- after advancing in the day yesterday more than 3%.

In this way, it surpassed Bill Gates' signature, which remains with a market value of about 784,000 million dollars -685,000 million euros-; and it is far from Apple, which if recently exceeded the level of one billion dollars, something that then Amazon would also do, today is worth 702,000 million - some 614,000 million -, 37% less.

In any case, Amazon also drops 20% from maximums. We may not hear your name too loud here, but Kroger is one of the largest supermarket chains in the United States. The company announced an alliance with Microsoft, in order to give life to "the store of the future".

Amazon has risen to first place thanks to its own and external factors. For its part, the one that emerged as an online bookstore in 1994 uses the pull of American consumption and the advancement of its business in the cloud ( cloud ), as well as the success of products such as the Alexa assistant or the entertainment platform Prime.

We see in the tweet, the supermarket chain dares to threaten Amazon (in a way), telling them to "take note" of what they are proposing. This "futuristic" proposal is now available in two stores of the chain, each one is close to the headquarters of each company: Monroe (Ohio) and Redmond.
In addition, the panels that include these smart shelves (EDGE Shelf) will be responsible for showing the publicity and thus use this space to generate money renting this space to brands. Kroger seeks to combine its experience in the world of physical stores with the knowledge that Microsoft has in artificial intelligence, the cloud and the Internet of things.

On the other hand, the commercial war and the global slowdown can weigh more heavily on its technological rivals, those with whom the most valuable signature site is disputed. In the case of Apple, the profit warning launched last week by lower income in China, which came to sink 10% in a single session, continues to alarm investors, who even see it as the sign that the global consumption is going down. The supermarket has an application in which we can create a shopping list. When we enter the store the app will guide us and the shelves will show an icon (chosen by the user) with which to find more easily the product we are looking for.

All in all, Bezos, 54, consolidates himself as the richest man in the world, with a fortune of 112,000 million dollars -98,000 million euros-, according to the real-time ranking of Forbes'. With the latest push on the stock market, the company has seen its fortune increase by 4,300 million dollars. we see Microsoft and Kroger seek to update the shopping experience in physical stores, showing personalized advertising and alerting the customer if an item on your list is no longer in stock.

The success or failure of the two stores that are already operational will be crucial to continue updating the stores in the near future.

A low Price Xbox One S is coming without CD drive

Microsoft will release the Xbox One S game console without a floppy drive, which will cost gamers $ 100 less. Reports the edition about it with reference to the Thurrott resource.

The fact is that the optical drive Blu-Ray is not cheap, and the rejection of it will reduce the price of a game console. In addition, owners of physical disks with games who want to purchase a new console will be able to exchange disks for codes for downloading already purchased games in digital format.

According to preliminary information, Microsoft will also release a budget version of the Xbox One S, which will be equipped with an optical drive but will still be cheaper than the flagship.

According to the information that foreign journalists spread, this will happen in 2019.

The Thurrott edition reported that in 2019, the American corporation Microsoft will release the Xbox One console without a floppy drive. Earlier, the same publication reported that Microsoft is preparing a new console called Scarlett.

The new console will be needed by developers in order to check the market interest in rejecting disks. Also, due to the absence of a disk drive, the console will be cheaper by a hundred dollars. In addition, Microsoft will allow exchanging disks with games for their digital copies. This will allow not to lose access to the already accumulated library of games. The console will be launched in 2019, and a new generation of devices is expected in 2020.

The abandonment of the drive in addition to the cost reduction also has a different background. An increasing number of gamers are buying no more physical versions of the games at all, but loading all titles directly from the Xbox Marketplace.

Of course, Microsoft saves but above all cost and the device, it should be so planned, they probably offer at a cheaper price than is the case so far. He should be under 200 euros. In addition, a new version of the Xbox One S is in the making, which continues to rely on a drive. It should appear after the pure disk model.

Xbox is not afraid of PlayStation Classic

Nothing has jumped the news of what for many nostalgics is a joy. PlayStation has launched on sale a mini model that has been so fashionable Nintendo. To recap a little and advance that I do not seem crazy this initiative of the Japanese because it can work for a certain player profile, this machine proposes a very small edition with replicas of the original controls of the first PlayStation and 20 pre-loaded games from the day of your purchase.

The ball is on the roof of Microsoft think some, but the fact is that seeing the way they are carrying out the Americans seem unlikely that they are raising an option of this type. Starting with the costs that are generated by bringing all the available catalog of your first machine.

Xbox Mini Does it make sense?

If you ask me as a player, my answer would be that it is a safe purchase if the price and the games accompany. However, as it advanced a few lines above, it seems unlikely that this will be possible. Starting with the manufacturing costs. The psychological barrier of 99 euros I think it is almost mandatory for anyone who wants to launch a product of these characteristics, and do not forget that the machine had a modified Pentium III and a customized Nvidia solution that makes that even today, not any PC can be able to emulate their games. So we are faced with an economic barrier that would practically knock down the very idea of ​​Microsoft thinking about bringing this initiative to life.

But it is not the only obstacle to face, we remember that taking a model like that, even if it would have its audience, would be a conflict of interest for Microsoft itself. They would be competing against themselves in the field of classic games. This would also add a negative message to the subconscious of the buyers to renounce the idea of ​​" unify all the present and past catalog in one place, Xbox One ."

Is retrocompatibility something that nobody uses?

With this gesture, from Sony, they draw a panorama that reveals to the eyes of the consumer its voracity to eat the market, and eye, this is totally lawful. Their own actions are a declaration of intentions because it is not trivial to use Final Fantasy VII as a guest star of the trailer for the presentation of the console, just now that it will reach Xbox and Nintendo Switch. What's the point of playing the game on a "mini" console if you can get the HD edition on the PS4 itself? Basically none.

Retro-compatibility is something very requested, but it really is not used much.

The removal of a machine that relives the games of the past, is a desire to take advantage of the backward compatibility. But obviously from a different perspective than Microsoft. Basically because while some advocate that you reuse your catalog, others bet to re-charge you up to 3 times the same game, without more appeal than to change your traditional command for a smaller one.

Microsoft under suspicion of corruption

The US authorities are studying cash flows around software sales in Hungary and are investigating whether middlemen have used the money for bribery.

In 2012, the Hungarian government tried to abandon Microsoft products. The company has over confirmed it and in the next two years sold Hungary the year of software for $ 30 million. Investigators suspect that this is the result of bribes and kickbacks to officials

The US authorities suspected Microsoft Corporation of bribery and corruption when selling software to government institutions in Hungary. This August 23 wrote to the newspaper Wall Street Journal.

According to a media report, the US authorities have filed investigations against Microsoft for suspected corruption and bribery related to software sales in Hungary. The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission examined whether Microsoft had sold software to mid-market middlemen in the European country, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing people familiar with the matter.

Software sales in Hungary not all right. Now investigate American authorities. The Group is silent on the allegations so far.

The agents should then have passed the software 2013 and 2014 to government agencies at full price. The authorities examined whether the middlemen used the difference to pay bribes. Initially, no one was available for comment at Microsoft.

The US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are studying how the corporation sold the software in Hungary in 2013 and 2014. Hungarian intermediaries received Microsoft products, including Word and Excel, at a big discount, and then sold them to the government at an almost full price. Investigators believe that the profits from these operations the company spent on bribes and kickbacks to officials.

In 2012, the Hungarian government tried to abandon Microsoft products and use free text editors instead. Operating director of the corporation Kevin Turner met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and promised that in 2013 and 2014 the company will sell them software with a discount of up to 30%. The WSJ noted that during this time Microsoft earned about $ 30 million in Hungary.

Prior to this, the US authorities suspected Microsoft of bribing and kickbacks when selling software in Romania, Italy, Russia, and Pakistan. The results of the investigations are unknown.

Microsoft - one of the largest manufacturers of software, computers, game consoles, and phones. Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded the company in 1975. The total capital of the company for 2018 is $ 82 billion.