Why highlight the Online division when Xbox is E&D? Stealth Troll?

What's the point of the second graph?

Well I only added the second graph because I figured if anything XBox Live would rake in the money because they are the only console maker that charges for online service.
Surely the Online Services include other things but I figured Live would compensate for it.
I also read that Bing at least was profitable for them, so it's not because of that. Right?

Ms may want to drop off the console market in a near future.

The overall profit performance of this adventure in the home console land is an absolute failure for Microsoft, just look at the graph.

The only purpose to Microsoft to have a console is to prevent sony from having a living room PC damaging their golden cow: Microsoft Windows

If they can afford losses like this just to reach that end, then I wish good luck for them.

And don't forget that the E&D devision has one of the biggest up-potentials of all MS-divisions.

Microsoft has stated many times they made the XBOX initially just to 'put their foot in the door of console gaming'. Obviously, after they got that foot jammed in the door, they've had to spend a few billion dollars to try to get it unstuck, but it has worked. They've established their 'name' as one of the three major gaming producers.

And as long as they're breaking even, Microsoft will probably keep that going. Because the recognition of your name being popular with an entirely different (and quote unquote trendy) product is going to help your company down the line.  right now Microsoft is doing quite well with a popular new model of Windows and yearly releases of things such as Office.  But they can't just coast by with the same products every year.  The key to a successful company is market expansion, and Microsoft has gotten by far too long without doing much of it.  That's why they're pushing right now to try to get into much of the same market Sony and Apple has.

We don't know if the xbox360 makes a profit. The E&D division comprises too many businesses to say that.

Part of the idea behind the Xbox is to establish MS as something fun - other than just this corporate PC monster. Check.

It establishes the MS brand with younger consumers. Check.

It encourages use of MS-branded web entities through MSN log-ins and Windows Media Player. Check (though perhaps less thoroughly than they might hope).

Ideally it makes money. Check (now - though not lifetime quite yet).

It's a breeding ground for new software ideas that can be expanded to elsewhere. Natal is an example of this. They hope to expand the tech elsewhere.

I'd think MS is pretty happy with the Xbox's performance - especially this gen. They have to be thrilled at how much market share and brand awareness they have claimed compared to the last gen.

microsoft doesn't make windows mobile hardware yet.

so no, microsoft doesn't loose a considereable amount of money from WM, even with the small marketshare they are paid licenses.

and zune it's sold at a profit.

Synergism for me describes Sony's plan more because the PS3 gave a huge boost to Blu-Ray. In my opinion Blu-Ray would have beaten HD-DVD anyway but that wasn't a risk Sony wanted to take. I'm not sure how synergistic Microsoft is. Their plan seems to be more just to throw Sonys synergy off. That's why they supported HD-DVD, if High-Def movie playback was really that important to their console in their eyes then the XBOX would be supporting Blu-Ray playback now.

I'm pretty sure most people would agree that the E & D division is pretty indicative of the Xbox's success. If you were to extend this graph back to 2001 then June 2007 is a pretty reasonable date to assume first time profitability for the XBOX brand.

Also it's been a pretty rocky road since then according to the graph. With a potential price cut looming and heavy marketing for the Natal who knows what the future holds for their bottom line.. When Microsoft releases a new console they will go the Nintendo route in my opinion and try to be profitable out the gate by making a less powerful console and like Nintendo it could be what makes or breaks them in the end.

Admittedly I'm no expert but this is what I've observed.