Microsoft’s big play for the living room just got a whole lot bigger. Tonight Microsoft have announced that Xbox is about to get more than 40 new apps. This will add to an already significant list of apps available on the platform.
Not all apps will be available in every country, so be sure to check out the full list over at Major Nelson’s blog. Unfortunately Aussies will only get a subset of the new apps, they include GameTrailers, IndieFlix and Karaoke and SkyDrive.
With SkyDrive on your Xbox, you can easily view your photos and videos on your TV. You can also play slideshows and view photos and videos shared with you. Forget the long awaited Apple TV, Xbox is here to play for keeps in the lounge room.
The Xbox SkyDrive app will be available after 10AM PST or in about 7 hours from now. It will be free, but require an Xbox Live Subscription just like Internet Explorer.
The inclusion of SkyDrive on the Xbox adds to Windows 8, OSX, Windows Phone, iOS and Android support. This means if you decide to use Microsoft’s cloud storage, SkyDrive, then you’re files are available to you pretty much everywhere.
SkyDrive is shaping up to be a massive play for Microsoft and has the potential to be another massive branch to their business, as important as Office and Server. Last month they announced that SkyDrive usage had doubled in the last 6 months. I even found myself enabling auto-upload photos to a private folder on SkyDrive after getting the Lumia 920.
Via The Verge, hat tip to Brad for the heads up.
More info @ Inside Microsoft and for even more information, visit the Inside SkyDrive blog.
