Date: Sunday, October 30 @ 15:10:56 UTC Topic: Xbox 360
Microsoft forecast that it will sell about 4.5 million to 5.5 million Xbox 360 video game consoles in the fiscal year that ends June 30, 2006. That's the first indication of how many units the company expects to sell as sales kick off in North America on Nov. 22.
That may seem like a lot, but it's a conservative number. After all, Microsoft is launching in all three markets simultaneously. It has lined up three contract manufacturers to build the boxes, and IBM lined up Charetered Semiconductor as the second source for its Xbox 360 microprocessors. You would think that with all that firepower, Microsoft would be able to sell three million at the launch this year and even more in the subsequent six months.