Microsoft Corp. might as well enter the real estate business. They may not want your mortgage payment or utility bills, but they’ll take all the space they can get.

Why?

Because when it comes to the connected entertainment business, the diversified vendor wants to own or control the home and everything around it.

Consider this: As far as delivering video to consumers is concerned, the IT colossus already is in the home with your PC and media center software, already produces wireless devices and code, and already has multifunctional IPTV — and just cable TV — software in many TV STBs.

While many vendors would kill for this breadth of coverage — which spells countless big-buck revenue opportunities for service providers — Microsoft has it and plans to expand its presence in the home and beyond.

A clear-cut case-in-point was Microsoft’s announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show 2007 of plans to integrate its IPTV software with its wildly popular Xbox 360 gaming console for general availability to service providers by the holidays. The move was expected, as it long has been said that the Xbox was a Trojan Horse for Microsoft to own home networking.

Broadband access-Unleashing the Trojan Horse: Microsoft Saddles Up Xbox for IPTV

Blogged with Flock