I suspect the biggest point which can be implied with the Xbox 360 revision is how much damage the reputation of unreliability must have done to the sales of the console. I suspect that the increase in sales was mainly due to latent demand from people who wanted an Xbox 360 but were held back by the stigma of unreliability or people who had an Xbox 360 and wanted to upgrade to a better design.
Im sure there are other factors involved like perhaps noise or wireless, but overall I suspect its the reliability. I remember when I was working in retail when the PS2 slim came out. A lot of people bought them because they had experienced or had feared their PS2 breaking down. In this case the reliability problem is greater and beyond that the step up for the most unreliable consoles is quite significant if someone was going from an early 2006/2007 20GB to a 250GB revision console they'd get a significant boost in HDD space as well as reliability, lower noise and the ability to install/download games and a warranty.
I believe it does have some longer term significance because as a redesign it shifts the value proposition somewhat given the Arcade will have a reasonable 4GB storage space and the likely inclusion of wireless with both models. Furthermore it gives people who may have passed up on the 360 a reason to give the console another look because it looks completely new. I know I did, when I saw one displayed out in the open at a local store I certainly stopped to have a second glance at it. I believe its enough on its own to lift sales over a longer 6-12 month term or beyond, although it wouldn't be any more than 5-10% over what it would have otherwise had.
