With 66 million consoles sold and 40 million Live subscribers, Xbox rarely gets credit for being a force in television. But at CES, Xbox won the overall “TV Innovator of the Year” award, beating out category winners like Samsung 3DTV, MobiTV and thePlatform. Organizers noted Microsoft’s aggressive strides into TV over the last year, from Bing search and Kinect navigation to new partnerships with 40 new TV and entertainment providers.
“This year’s Award entrants really showed us that the pace of innovation and change in the TV industry has never been greater,” says Ian Weightman, president IMS Research. “The quality and depth of submissions was extremely evident, with a lot of truly game-changing solutions being presented. Congratulations to Microsoft in winning the TV Innovator of the Year against some very strong competition.”
Microsoft was light on announcements at CES, its last showing at the event.