Microsoft Corp. released an update on Tuesday for its Xbox 360 console that will allow users to interact with their televisions in a completely new way. Now users with Kinect can tell their televisions to play movies or switch channels with a simple voice command.

The new Xbox Live Companion app will let users search their entire Xbox Live catalog of television shows, music, movie, games and app on their Windows Phone. More importantly it can potentially supplant cable providers as the main source of content for consumers. Microsoft has partnered with 40 content providers to give Xbox users to expand the entertainment options in its console. The new partners will include content from ESPN, Hulu, Netflix and MSNBC in the United State. In Australia, Microsoft is adding content from ninemsn, Sky Go and SBN on Demand. In a few years time, Microsoft could provide enough content to rival most cable companies.

The new update is Microsoft's pre-emptive strike against Apple. For the longest time rumors about an Apple-branded TV had been tantalizing consumers. With Apple's voice controlled virtual assistant Siri the implications for an Apple TV became much more intriguing. Apple could adapt Siri in its planned television as a new way to interact with the TV set. With the update Microsoft has stolen Apple's thunder.

"The update is another huge step toward realizing our vision of bringing you all your entertainment, shared with the people you care about, in an easy way," Marc Whitten, Microsoft's corporate vice president for Xbox Live, wrote on the official Microsoft blog.

Both Google and Apple are hoping to provide a new interactive television device. Google has its Google TV set-top boxes which have so far failed to make an impact in the market. With the new update, Microsoft seems to have gained a leg up from its rivals. The Xbox interface will have the same Metro UI look that can be found in Windows Phones and in the upcoming Windows 8 software. The unified interface will make it easier for users to stick with Windows on all platforms.

"Microsoft has just built and delivered it: A single box that ties together all the content you want, made easily accessible through a universal, natural, voice-directed search," wrote James McQuivey of Forrester Research in his blog."This is now the benchmark against which all other living room initiatives should be compared."

The new set-up could mean a huge shift in the way users engage with television. With 57 million Xbox 360 units already in the hands of consumers and 35 million users who have Xbox Live that tectonic shift could come faster than you expect.