Microsoft Outlines Xbox Live/MSN Integration

According to a report from the BBC News website, Microsoft is planning a new Xbox Live feature which will allow Xbox 360 users to contact friends on their mobile phone. The report cites Microsoft UK mobility business manager Jason Langridge as saying the system should be live within six months, as part of Microsoft’s wider strategy to connect its various online services. Langridge explained that this is part of plans to better integrate Xbox Live with instant message system MSN Messenger. This will make it possible to send a message or alert from Xbox Live which will then instantly appear on a PC using MSN Messenger (or a smartphone using MSN Messenger as part of the Windows Mobile operating system). The integration of Xbox Live into Microsoft’s other communication services was given an additional boost yesterday as Xbox corporate vice president J Allard was given a new position heading up a group overseeing the "design and user experience" for all of Microsoft’s gaming and entertainment products. Queried as a possible demotion by some observers, the move may simply underline the importance that Microsoft now ascribes to integrating the Xbox brand and features into other areas of its business.