Bankruptcy looming for Microsoft?

[Steven W]

Well not really but check out the Headline for details on the losses Microsoft are incurring from the 360.

[autopilot]

Bill Gates could pay for it with the cash he found down the back of his sofa. But blimey, it's a lot of money alright.

[DR]

Yes but its a big boys game and they have to take these gambles -....

[ajbrun]

Bill Gates could pay for it with the cash he found down the back of his sofa. But blimey, it's a lot of money alright.

Said on the news last night that in 2005, Bill gave a third of his net capital (net something anyway) to the 3rd world. Think they mentioned something like $1 billion.

[kidzer]

Yep, he does a tremendous amount of charity work.

Good lad really

[autopilot]

Said on the news last night that in 2005, Bill gave a third of his net capital (net something anyway) to the 3rd world. Think they mentioned something like $1 billion.

He's worth more than 3 Billion, Over 20 Billion was the last i heard, but that was a couple of years. Good to see he is putting it to good use, but then what else do you do with it?

[espiritoUK]

Don't forget the xbox live marketplace, which is what i think microsoft is hoping will take off. The Gold subscription i believe gives you 200 microsoft points that you can use in the Marketplace, I am not sure what each individual item in the marketplace will cost in terms of microsoft points. But you can purchase and please note the "purchase" additional microsoft points to top up for use in the Marketplace. I think i read somewhere that 400 points cost you $5, now if that is the case assuming a downloadable game cost you 400 points it is quite forseeable that you can spend quite a bit of cash just topping up your points. This is where microsoft is hoping to reap the rewards on its xbox 360. If it is in fact the $300 loss then they would need a 90% of xbox users to obtain a gold package for $69.99 a year and buy $5 worth of mp's (microsoft points) a week for a year to break even on 1.2 million consoles sold. If however it is more $127 loss per console then they would only need about 35% of the xbox 360 users to do that.

[Steven W]

Don't forget the xbox live marketplace, which is what i think microsoft is hoping will take off. The Gold subscription i believe gives you 200 microsoft points that you can use in the Marketplace, I am not sure what each individual item in the marketplace will cost in terms of microsoft points. But you can purchase and please note the "purchase" additional microsoft points to top up for use in the Marketplace. I think i read somewhere that 400 points cost you $5, now if that is the case assuming a downloadable game cost you 400 points it is quite forseeable that you can spend quite a bit of cash just topping up your points. This is where microsoft is hoping to reap the rewards on its xbox 360. If it is in fact the $300 loss then they would need a 90% of xbox users to obtain a gold package for $69.99 a year and buy $5 worth of mp's (microsoft points) a week for a year to break even on 1.2 million consoles sold. If however it is more $127 loss per console then they would only need about 35% of the xbox 360 users to do that.

Good point! They should make a fair few bob from this

[Shorty]

.. and remember, in the UK alone we pay the same in £ as the yanks do in $. £299 is over $550. Not selling a loss there now are they..? Hmmm

[DR]

Just because we pay more doesnt mean MS makes more though.

Distribution costs are higher over here...

[Shorty]

Just because we pay more doesnt mean MS makes more though.

Distribution costs are higher over here...

But not 100%, no matter how much anyone slices it

[TheAnimus]

true but think government, then the legal costs (ie making the product safe for that country) think how many people will be buying the "british" model verses the "USA" model?

[Funkstar]

personally i doubt there will be any actual difference between a US and UK model. It would cost far more in development and production to have two or more different systems for different locals. Any extra expense in producing every unit to meet the highest standards (will be either EU or US standards) will be offset by the higher quantities/lower inventory you get from having a single product. Power supplies are a good example they are generally all 100 - 240v 50-60hz no matter what you buy or where from. I've seen large monitors in the past that came with UK, european and US powercables in the box so it didn't matter what country the unit ended up in.

Taxes in the UK are higher and so are the costs of ding business (because taxes are higher) so i'm never surprised at the difference in price between here and the US.