This jumped out at me: "Unless MSFT develops Xbox into a widespread payment system..."
After a couple years of being down on MSFT, I've gotta say that xbox360 is a pretty brilliant product. Xbox live Gold can be purchased as a 5.99/month subscription, or 45/year one time payment. (like itunes cards, you'll find these in places like target and walmart).
Think as if you're a semi-proficient computer user. They often don't have the vocab to articulate what they mean(if they know what they mean).
Look at the UI of an Iphone or Xbox360, or process for signing up for gmail for good examples of "not confusing." Both are dummy friendly.
Don't lose perspective after having been immersed in the technical world. I've seen some very smart people completely lose grasp of how a non-technical person thinks. Words like driver and BIOS freak them out - forget Python and API.