Console Wars; Apple Versus Samsung; Smart Objects
LAKE: The console wars are officially on as Microsoft's Xbox One went on sale worldwide today. It's the tech giant's first new gaming console in eight years, and early demand has been strong. It goes head-to-head, though, with Sony's PlayStation 4. That console was released in the US last Friday while Sony gamers in the UK will have to wait another week. Let's bring in Dan Costa, editor-in-chief of PCMag.com. He has an Xbox One on his hands. Precious inventory here, Dan. So tell me very frankly, there's been a lot of hype, the Microsoft marketing machine has been out in force. Is it going to live up to it?</s>DAN COSTA, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, PCMAG.COM: Yes, that was the big thing. We'd seen it in action, we'd seen demos. The question is, was it going to work as advertised?</s>LAKE: Yes. Through the rigors you guys put it through.</s>COSTA: Right. And actually, it made a great demo for about six months. Once we got it in the lab, would it perform? And to be truthful - - we've had it for a while, now. We've put it through some tests, and it's kind of a great device. It's kind of amazing. It works as advertised, and I think it's going to make a lot of people really happy.</s>LAKE: OK, is it a great device for gamers or for everyone?</s>COSTA: That's an interesting thing. It's a little bit different strategy than Sony's taking with the PlayStation 4. The Xbox One has a lot of features that are not just dedicated to gaming. It'll connect to your TV and works with your cable box so that you can actually change your cable channels just by using the voice commands built into the Kinect center.</s>LAKE: Right. Which is this on top.</s>COSTA: Yes, that's a --</s>LAKE: Right? The Kinect part on top? Which used to look different. Because I have the older one now.</s>COSTA: Yes. This is a much -- and that's the other thing. The Kinect itself, much improved. It's now 1080p, it's a very sensitive camera, and it's a great feature. And being able to change channels using your voice is a great feature for anyone, not just gamers.</s>LAKE: So the coach potato nation.</s>COSTA: Yes.</s>LAKE: Not that we need that. For -- you mentioned the difference with Sony. It's more expensive.</s>COSTA: Yes.</s>LAKE: And this is a big-ticket item. People are going to have pay up for it. I have heard that with any of these new technologies, voice commands -- listen, I have two kids, it's screaming, it's so loud in my house -- does it all work seamlessly, or can we expect a little bit of a learning curve here, and will that put consumers off?</s>COSTA: There will be a learning curve, particularly with the voice commands. You have to sort of learn a little bit about how to talk to it. But let me tell you, we were pretty impressed at how smooth these things were. The voice commands were smooth. It recognized different players in your actual physiology in your body. And if you walk in front of the Kinect, it will automatically call up your player profile and recognize you as an individual.</s>LAKE: Yes, so definitely improvements from my experience trying to --</s>COSTA: All seamless. Much, much better.</s>LAKE: -- turn that on. Here's the question, though. First of all, very quickly, is it enough to beat Sony at its game?</s>COSTA: I think that both these consoles are going to do really well. I think that most people are going to stick with the console platform that they already have. I think that Xbox --</s>LAKE: Because their friends play.</s>COSTA: -- has a little more upside.</s>LAKE: What about the real threat? And that's from something as simple as this. There are a lot of gamers, unless you're a hardcore gamer, that are saying, oh, Candy Crush! QuizUp, which I just found out about this week --</s>COSTA: Yes.</s>LAKE: -- which is totally addictive and the top-selling app. It's mobility, it's apps, people have their tablets. Is that going to cut into the business that was traditional for Microsoft and Sony?</s>COSTA: Absolutely. Absolutely. It already is. It already is. You're seeing ship -- the console gaming market's in decline. These other new platforms are taking off. The thing that Microsoft can do here, though, is if you look at the interface of the Xbox One, it's very similar to the Windows Phone interface, very similar to their tablet platform and Windows 8. So, you're starting to see some collaboration here and some uniformity. I think that's their longterm game, and I actually think it's a pretty good strategy.</s>LAKE: Building for the future, not just for this one product, as much as it's wanted. We see the people lining up, and I had to try it. I tell you, something's got to -- it's got to play for me, Dan, for me to get better at this, I'll tell you. But maybe that's in the works one of these days. Dan Costa from PCMag.com. Thank you so much.</s>COSTA: Thank you.</s>LAKE: We're going to stick with the idea of this, these devices. Apple has struck a blow against Samsung in the war over who holds the rights to the technology in these types of devices, in the tablets that we're all using. A jury in California has ordered Samsung to pay Apple $290 million for infringing its patent. That's on top of $640 million in fines that Samsung was slapped with in 2012. It is the latest judgment in a marathon case involving suit and counter suit by the two rival phone makers. The epic patent struggle goes on. Both companies have appealed the original 2012 decision and are embroiled in dozens of disputes in courts around the world. Tony Fadell knows Apple products inside and out. He was senior vice president of Apple's iPod division, leaving to set up his own company. Nest is redesigning household goods, like thermostats and smoke alarms, to make them smarter and, they promise, more desirable. Richard Quest spoke to him earlier, and he told Richard about why he decided to go it alone.</s>TONY FADELL, FOUNDER AND CEO, NEST: Our goal is to take these unloved products in the home, reinvent them with new technologies, make them connected so they're safer, more energy-efficient, so you actually know that you're being protected, that you know you're saving energy.</s>RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL: I love this phrase, "unloved objects in the home."</s>FADELL: And there are many.</s>QUEST: What are they? What have we -- so we've got the thermostat, we've got the smoke alarm or smoke detectors, CO2 detector. What about -- what else is unloved?</s>FADELL: Trade secrets. You'll see in just a few years as we create those products.</s>QUEST: Clock radios?</s>FADELL: Clock radios, a lot of people, they still don't --</s>QUEST: Kettles?</s>FADELL: -- set themselves.</s>QUEST: Kettles?</s>FADELL: Kettles, toasters, they still burn the toast. You need a Nest Protect because the toaster will still burn your toast. Why should that be?</s>QUEST: So, are you going to make a toaster?</s>FADELL: Maybe.</s>QUEST: Are you going to tell me any product that you're working on?</s>FADELL: Yes, a Nest Protect and a Nest thermostat.</s>QUEST: Right.</s>QUEST: But this -- but you obviously --</s>FADELL: You see where I came from. Apple, right?</s>QUEST: You came from Apple.</s>FADELL: We don't talk about things until they're ready to be purchased.</s>FEMALE ALARM VOICE: Heads up. There's smoke in the dining room.</s>QUEST: Why are you risking a life of financial security with products, be they unloved or otherwise?</s>FADELL: Because these frustrate me. They frustrate my family, they frustrate other families. We wanted to go and finally fix them. Who else is going to go and fix them? For 40 years, they've been the same. No one's tried to fix them, so we think --</s>QUEST: But why do you want to fix them?</s>FADELL: Because they're frustrating! I waste energy with my thermostat. I get woken up at night with my smoke detector. Why do they have to do this? We have much better technology. We have SmartPhones that can control the world. Why can't your smoke detector not wake you up in the middle of the night?</s>FEMALE ALARM VOICE: Smoke alarm hushed.</s>QUEST: Do you think that the age and the day of the inventor is still relevant? Now, Steve Jobs with the iPhone and the iPod, but they were one on their own. We all look for what's next. We all look for the next big thing. Where do these ideas come from?</s>FADELL: They really come from frustration, right? We were frustrated with our phones, we wanted to take all of our music everywhere. Frustration is a great -- source of inspiration.</s>QUEST: I've got to ask you, even though we're here to talk about Nest, not iTunes, iPhones, and Apple. Has Apple under Tim Cook lost its mojo?</s>FADELL: I think -- look. The team knows what they're doing, they've been there for decades, I've worked with these guys. They know what they're doing. Innovation takes a lot of time, right? Think about it. It took five, seven years to get from an iPod to an iPhone. And then it took more years to get to an iPad.</s>QUEST: But there's no guarantees with innovation it will be successful.</s>FADELL: There are no guarantees. There are a lot of things that we tried at Apple that weren't successful, you just don't remember them. You have to try, though.</s>LAKE: After the break, not selling a car, but a dream. We'll get behind the wheels of Ferrari's newest super car.