First thing:
The revision boost isn't going to just go away and the Xbox 360 isn't just going to go back to its regular sales rate by the time the holiday season in America rolls around. It is a fundamental change. The Xbox 360 revision adds value by taking away the stigma of reliability problems, the issue for some of not having wireless for some and the issue of the console itself being too noisy for some. The boost would have died down by now had it been nothing more than a change in casing for the Xbox 360. Now the Xbox 360 has caused people who already dismissed the system to check it out again. Even with a small mid term boost of 5-10% YOY is a significant change in itself. It has been 13 weeks since the Xbox 360 revision came out. We're long past due for it to die down if it was a simply FAD.
Second thing:
Kinect is designed to expand the userbase of the console beyond the current M16-35 out to a wider audience and Microsoft has been doing a lot of grass-roots advertising. They are getting these things out to stores and taking advantage of the novelty and demo-ability of the interface. In basic marketing terms Microsoft is spending a significant quantity of money in getting people aware of and to try this interface. It already had 8 weeks to go before launch and the main TV advertising etc hasn't started up. Chances are Kinect Xbox 360s will be in high demand this Christmas simply because it is novel to people and because Microsoft built so much awareness. Given the fact that the interface already has over 100,000 pre-orders 8 weeks out from release does bode well for it. The price is appropriate so long as people value the experience. The actual cost of a Kinect Xbox 360 S 4GB is around the same price as a Wii at launch with a game and extra controller, thats if you could get it at MSRP.
last thing:
Sure Kinect alone isn't going to do it alone. The revision alone isn't going to do it. However with the sales of the PS3 closing in and the Xbox 360 likely to recieve a 100K or more boost WOW its very much plausible the Xbox 360 will outsell the PS3 for this year. There is only 617k 380K separating the 360 from the PS3 for 2010 as at Sept 4th. By the time Halo Reach and this weeks sales are through the gap will probably be under 450k. 250K. That isn't a significant difference when the Xbox 360 remains ahead in weekly sales and end of year sales in Q4 account for a large proportion of overall sales.
Edit number for PS3 / 360 gap due to http://www.vgchartz.com/yearly.php
Tease.
