Has Xbox 360 Already Won the War?
At a NASDAQ event in London, chief financial officer Chris Liddell reiterated Microsoft's forecast for 10 million consoles by the end of the Christmas season. This number has not only been mentioned by Liddell, but repeatedly by Gates, Ballmer and Xbox head Peter Moore as well.
Many analysts are cautioning that the company may be setting itself up for embarrassment and retaliation from shareholders if it fails to meet this goal. However, in an interview with Bloomberg, Moore upped the ante even more.
Asked by the news service whether the company was likely to beat that outlook, Moore agreed, saying the Thanksgiving weekend was a stellar one for Microsoft and Xbox.
While the most recent data shows six million Xbox 360 consoles sold as of September 30, internal data indicates Microsoft may have sold more than eight million units as of the end of November.
Reaching the 10 million goal is just now a matter of sales: about a week ago the company shipped its ten millionth console. And from the looks of things, hitting the mark may not be that difficult.
Industry watchers are beginning to believe, too. "Microsoft's lead seems unbeatable now, fueled by a one year head start, the raging success of Gears of War as 2006's killer app, and most recently, a blitzkrieg of promotion for Halo 3, scheduled for 2007," GigaOM's Wagner James Au said.
"It's not hard to be confident when you're the only show in town. Sure, PS3 and Wii have been released, but try to buy one. Short supplies mean sunny sales for Microsoft," remarked Microsoft Watch editor Joe Wilcox. "Also, Xbox 360 is HD ready at a time when HD TVs are hot items. Consumers can wait around for PS3 or Wii and likely not get one--or they could buy a Xbox 360 for their brand new HD plasma or LCD TV. Microsoft is right to boast about sales."
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