According to an article by British business paper the Financial Times, Microsoft has admitted that it will not reach its 90 day target for the Xbox 360 of 2.75 to 3 million consoles shipped.
Analysts suggest that only 1.3 million units have been shipped worldwide by the end of 2005, with shortages expected to continue everywhere but Japan in January and beyond. As suggested at CES last week, the company is now focusing on a target of 4.5 million to 5.5 million consoles by the end of the fiscal year in June.
The company has primarily blamed manufacturing problems for the missed target, having recently announced that a third manufacturing plant will be brought online to meet demand. "Nothing's perfect - you've got a complex piece of hardware that includes 1,700 different parts. Every now and again the line will slow down because something's happened and there'll be a component that didn't make it that morning,” commented corporate vice president Peter Moore.
Although the Japanese launch has certainly been disappointing, the missed target does seem to be one solely of supply at the moment with demand for the new console extremely strong in the West and particularly in the U.S. The real concern for Microsoft will be the shortened amount of time the supply problems give for the Xbox 360 to create a significant lead in user base before the launch of the PlayStation 3.
Peter Moore has previously spoken of plans to sell 10 million consoles within the first twelve to sixteen months of the Xbox 360's launch, a target that is now more dependent on Xbox 360 stock and the launch date of Sony’s console than any other issues.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
The Xbox 360 And Japanese Nationalism
Check out this interesting article about the XBOX 360 in Japan. By Vinnk
There has been a lot of coverage recently about the failure of the Japanese Xbox 360. And those reports are very true. It is one of the weakest system launches in Japanese history, only topped perhaps by the Japanese launch of the Atari Jaguar. In my town there is only 1 game store that carries the 360. They were given 12 launch units by Microsoft and at the end of launch day they had sold only 1, and that was to one of the employees.
These articles are, of course, making the rounds of gaming sites. The comments I read on these sites often make me sick to my stomach. People are saying that the Xbox is not selling because the Japanese people are Xenophobic and will never buy foreign electronics. I have even read a few comments that say and I quote “Those Japs would never buy an American game system because they are still bitter about Hiroshima”.
Ok, first of all, those “Japs” are friends of mine. And I resent the slur. This isn’t even the worst comment I have heard on this issue. But the others are too vulgar or racist for me to repeat here. Why is there all this hate? Because the Japanese are not forking over thousands of yen blindly, that makes them xenophobic? I guess so. And now I will tell you what else these bitter, nationalistic Japanese are buying.
link to the full article
There has been a lot of coverage recently about the failure of the Japanese Xbox 360. And those reports are very true. It is one of the weakest system launches in Japanese history, only topped perhaps by the Japanese launch of the Atari Jaguar. In my town there is only 1 game store that carries the 360. They were given 12 launch units by Microsoft and at the end of launch day they had sold only 1, and that was to one of the employees.
These articles are, of course, making the rounds of gaming sites. The comments I read on these sites often make me sick to my stomach. People are saying that the Xbox is not selling because the Japanese people are Xenophobic and will never buy foreign electronics. I have even read a few comments that say and I quote “Those Japs would never buy an American game system because they are still bitter about Hiroshima”.
Ok, first of all, those “Japs” are friends of mine. And I resent the slur. This isn’t even the worst comment I have heard on this issue. But the others are too vulgar or racist for me to repeat here. Why is there all this hate? Because the Japanese are not forking over thousands of yen blindly, that makes them xenophobic? I guess so. And now I will tell you what else these bitter, nationalistic Japanese are buying.
link to the full article
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