[Am-info] Life expectancy of Xbox

[Geoffrey]

John Poltorak wrote:
> With Microsoft sunstantially cutting the price of the Xbox by around $100 
> or so they must be running up huge losses. I keep reading about the loss 
> they were supposed to be making before the price cut and it seemed like a 
> pretty high figure then. What could it be now?
> 
> Does anyone have any idea of the development costs? It would be 
> interesting to see any of Microsoft figures about when they expected to 
> see some payback. As it is now, the Xbox must be causing a severe 
> haemorrhage, but I suspect Bill Gates has a stubborn streak and won't want 
> to pull the plug on it. He may even throw more money at it in an attempt 
> to recover some investment. I hope he does.


Money magazine had an article on Billy and M$.  Noted they have over 40 
Billion in cash, and generating an additional 1 billion a month.  I 
doubt the're losing a billion a month on the Xbox.  The article noted 
that with this kind of cash, M$ could buy the entire airline industry, 
TWICE, it's more cash than Ford, Exxon/Mobil and Wal-Mart put together.

The article gagged me a couple of times with comments like 'a near 
monopoly.'  Even money magazine is afraid of Bill.  A few more 
interesting comments:  "Windows ships on 92% of all desktop computers 
today and Office account for 96% of all business productivity suite 
software sold."  If that's not a monopoly, I'd like a better example...

Just like software, as the games sell, they'll reap their rewards. 
Games cost a bit more to physically manufacturer then a software CD, 
still, at $50 a pop, don't worry Billy will be just fine.  Yet another 
quote from Money: "Although Microsoft is losing money on every box sold, 
that's part of the plan: build an installed user base now, then rake in 
the profits with higher-margin game software later."

> 
> Can anyone speculate on when Microsoft will pull the plug?
> 
> There are quite a few signs around the place the Microsoft is tightening 
> up on expenditure and there are reports of the company shedding jobs in 
> various places.
> 
> BTW, I wonder if there are any Xbox viruses yet... 
> 
> 
> 


-- 
Until later: Geoffrey		esoteric@3times25.net

I didn't have to buy my radio from a specific company to listen
to FM, why doesn't that apply to the Internet (anymore...)?