By Adam Cornwell XBOX 360: Environmental factors affecting pricing By Adam Cornwell

XBOX 360: Environmental factors affecting pricing What is the hardware cost of an Xbox 360? Many different hardware manufacturers such as: ATI (graphics card) IBM (processor) Published May 7th 2007 XBOX 360 has over 1700 parts and uses more than 200 suppliers to obtain them. Assembly is carried out by an outside company who charge as little as $7 per machine, which indicates possible low wages to employees

By Adam Cornwell XBOX 360: Environmental factors affecting pricing Reliability issues Major overheating issue which causes: The CPU and GPU to warp and put strain on the circuits The soldering then fails due to lack of strength The use of lead free solder is a likely cause of the lack of strength This type of solder is only used as new EU regulations brought in at the same time as the consoles creation prohibits the use of lead in solder In 19months there has been a reported 1.6 million Xbox failures!

By Adam Cornwell XBOX 360: Environmental factors affecting pricing EU regulations In 2006 the European Union announced the banning of Lead and Mercury Cadmium amongst other substances in Electronic products. (The WEEE directive) Being as the console was released end of 2005/6 they had to take the upcoming changes in legislation into consideration. The regulations were brought in to tackle the growing problem of E-Waste which shows no signs of slowing.

By Adam Cornwell XBOX 360: Environmental factors affecting pricing Faulty console policy Microsoft have never admitted there is a reliability issue with there console and have sent mixed signals regarding pricing and the problem. The price has been substantially lowered since its initial release HOWEVER In 2005 Microsoft announced that they would extend the warrantee on any console with the total failure and replace it with a new or reconditioned console. This cost Microsoft $1.15 billion!!

By Adam Cornwell XBOX 360: Environmental factors affecting pricing Results of the Regulation However this regulation does mean that the products which now have to use a tin based solder are less reliable resulting in….. A faulty Xbox which has suffered a total failure This starts the argument of whether the lead-soldered Product, although potentially hazardous are better for the environment as it will have a longer product life. Microsoft have already announced they have lost $1.15billion on there replacement program!

By Adam Cornwell XBOX 360: Environmental factors affecting pricing Recycling At the beginning of 2008 Microsoft announced another revision of the Xbox consoles hardware. This revision included…. Using components from returned consoles in new Xboxes and replacement Xboxes By reusing components there is obviously a significant reduction in costs, but a slight increase in man power to obtain the parts. Electronics waiting to be ground to dust and melted to extract the metal In one warehouse alone there are in excess of faulty consoles!

By Adam Cornwell XBOX 360: Environmental factors affecting pricing Heat sink Microsoft have also in an attempt to address the overheating problem and ultimately reducing the piles of faulty Xboxes introduced heat sinks. Originally the heat sink was introduced in the top range Xbox (elite) and as such the price was a lot more than standard versions. (originally $399) A heat sink for the Xbox 360 costs roughly from $20-40 this obviously affects the price of the Xbox

By Adam Cornwell Individual company environmental policies XBOX 360: Environmental factors affecting pricing There are 200 component suppliers to Xbox, and many have there own policies on recycling: IBM: in the 1990’s they introduced a free recycling program for there products, and began considering to take responsibility for there products. And the scheme has continued to get bigger ATI: Do not currently have a recycling program, however do promote responsible disposal to there suppliers. All the other smaller suppliers do not have the infrastructure to create a program for there products.

By Adam Cornwell XBOX 360: Environmental factors affecting pricing Xbox’s duty It is Xbox’s duty to ensure that their console’s are recycled appropriately. The recent news of there recycling program shows they are seeing their errors and as such, have created a appropriate method of dealing with the problems. The price of the console has changed but in a hidden way…. The arcade lacks the HDMI capability and a hard-drive which gives it the cheap price of £ The premium model has the HDMI and a 20gb hard-drive (newly increased to 60gb) priced around £180 The elite has HDMI capability, 120gb hard-drive and most of the extras i.e. HDMI cable priced around £250 These difference in prices are most probably to keep the Xbox affordable and at the same time increase its reliability with the cost of the heat sinks.

By Adam Cornwell Bibliography XBOX 360: Environmental factors affecting pricing Dean Takahashi. (2008). Xbox 360 defects: an inside history of Microsoft’s video game console woes. Retrieved 10 th November, 2008, from microsofts-video-game-console-woes/?rfdid= Riley Neugebauer,Brooke Frazer, Peter May-Ostendorp, Chris Calwell. (2008). Improving the Energy Efficiency of Video Game Consoles. Retrieved 10 th November, 2008, from James Pikover. (2008). Two New Xbox 360 Designs to Recycle, Keep Cooler. Retrieved 11 th November, 2008, from ns_to_Recycle_Keep_Cooler.html David Dreger. (2007). Production costs: PS3 and 360 Elite comparison Retrieved 11 th November, 2008, from elite-comparison/

By Adam Cornwell Bibliography XBOX 360: Environmental factors affecting pricing BBC News. (2008). Microsoft cuts Europe Xbox price. Retrieved 15 th November, 2008, from Grossman, Elizabeth. (2006). High Tech Trash : Digital Devices, Hidden Toxins, and Human Health. Retrieved 15 th November, 2008, Island Press, pgs 148, 150 E-Books Tom Sanders. (2007). Microsoft facing US$1.15bn Xbox 360 repair bill. Retrieved 19 th November, 2008, from repair-bill.aspx Dean Takahashi. (2008). The truth about the Xbox 360. Retrieved 19 th November, 2008, from