UK Xbox 360 sales up 40%

[Dodece]

I think many of my fellow posters are confused Microsoft isn't trying to take a lead they are trying to maintain a lead, and more specifically expand their lead. The difference in the other regions is 1,500,000. The difference between console sales last week was 20,000 units. This Microsoft is doomed gibberish is most definitely premature. You cannot reverse the positions to serve your purposes. Were the sales to remain stagnant at last weeks level Sony would still be a year and a half behind.

Have no illusions about this situation Sony is still the third place challenger. Sony is not laying anything remotely close to a beat down on anyone. Nintendo however is laying a beat down on Sony. With a 2,650,000 unit lead as we speak, and is outselling the PS3. Nintendo has truncated both Microsoft's and Sony's potential exploitable market. Now Microsoft has made their console substantially cheaper. They have a larger market to exploit, and they still have a lead over Sony in their hip pocket.

I think we often forget there is a little console on the market by the name of PS2. This console still has a lot to teach us, and the lesson is this. Good enough and cheap enough are very important to consumers. They are part of the decision making process. The machine is outdated in every sense of the word. Yet it is still hanging in with the new kids on the block.

Honestly this isn't last years PS3 price drop fiasco. There was a plethora of consumers that did want the machine, but the price had curbed their enthusiasm. They wanted it, but wouldn't pay that much to have it. So they were biding their time for a price cut which was predicted, leaked, and obviously necessary. The price on the 360 hasn't hindered purchases to quite that extent. The PS3 had built up a log jam or anxious consumers. That is part of why the console had such extreme spikes. The 360 is attracting an undetermined market, or convincing mild enthusiasts.

A forty percent increase on the first week is actually a very nice increase. That would have been the increase Sony would have seen last year had its consoles price not discouraged consumers from buying in when they initially had wanted to. Microsoft seems to have been very effective with positioning. They are exiting a price plateau before they exhaust it, and entering newer plateaus at the right points.

The real questions are this. What effect did predicted price drops, and leaked information effect the previous weeks 360 sales. Will the cheaper 360 drive sales away from the PS3 or even the Wii. Will this price cut be as effective as Microsoft's previous price cut. How effective will Grand Theft Auto and this new price be for Microsoft.

Also for those that do not realize Easter is this Sunday. The strange date is having unanticipated consequences on the market. This year it really is a creeper holiday. So this upcoming weeks sales should be oddly spectacular. I think the charts are going to be insane next week as the unwary get cold cocked by the holiday sneaking up on them. What does anyone else think about this. Will the early arrival hurt sales, or drive guilt based spending.

Out of curiosity are Europeans more or less prone to buy big ticket items for the holiday. Where I live we usually didn't have major presents for Easter. Just a basket of candy a couple little toys, and a huge meal. I love Easter I am going to make a glutton of myself on Sunday. We are having ham. I really do love ham.