MSFT DecQtr: $21bn rev, $6.6bn profit, 360: 8.2m shipped, Kinect Install base 18m

[Reasonable]

Mistershine said:

Reasonable said:

thranx said:

Reasonable said:

Mistershine said:

SOLIDSNAKE08 said:

Mistershine said:
I assume a 65.8m install base means sold, not shipped?

its shipped.

According to every definition I could find online it means number of units sold and in use at any given time.

Confusion raining down from up high.

For a financial release like this MS reports what was sold to the buyer - in the case of consoles the buyer is retailers, not consumers, hence shipped equals sold to retailers.  The retailers sell to us and can pass back the info to MS but they don't have to and probably not all do - certainly outside US not all will.  Therefore while MS can aim to track sold to consumers they only know sold to retailers for sure.

The 65.8 will be sold to retail because that's what MS does and where the revenue recorded from - note the revenue will be the price the retailer pays vs what we pay which will normally inclue a small markup for the retailer which is the other reason why MS has to use shipped to retail as there would be a disconnect with the revenue they recieve and the actual price paid if they used sold to consumer.

he said install base, not shipped or sold.

The 65.8 is from MS financial release not Ballmer's verbal statements - I'm not talking about his comments at all which are now simply a verbal approximation of what has been clearly stated.

The Entertainment & Devices Division posted revenue of $4.24 billion, an increase of 15% from the prior period. The Xbox 360 installed base now totals approximately 66 million consoles and 18 million Kinect sensors. Xbox LIVE now has 40 million members worldwide, an increase of 33% from the prior year period.

Copied from here:

http://www.microsoft.com/investor/EarningsAndFinancials/Earnings/PressReleaseAndWebcast/FY12/Q2/default.aspx

Note emphazied.  In the verbal sections of a report companies can round and use approximate values - if you look at the detail that's where they state 65.8 shipped.