I doubt it. It is more than likely purchased with the 4GB 360 and seen as a deal. Most people I know who have it shelved it already.

KINECT is selling because people love it.  Yes, the budget may have brought people into stores to ask about KINECT, but the AMAZINGLY POSITIVE word of mouth is what will sell kinect for decades to come.  Just look at the OUTSTANDING reviews below.  These are real people who bought KINECT and loved it!  They are not gaming journalists being paid to review a piece of hardware. 

http://www.amazon.com/Kinect-Sensor-Adventures-Xbox-360/product-reviews/B002BSA298/ref=cm_cr_pr_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

The immensly positive consumer reaction to KINECT has turned it into a cultural phenomenon. 

If I had to guess I would say 80% of KINECT'S success  can be attributed to a fun, quality gaming experience and the resulting positive word of mouth buzz.

And 20% of KINECT'S success can be attributed to advertising.

What do you think?

I completely disagree.

If you go into any of videogame or electronics store (even here in South Africa) then the Kinect is positioned right in the front of the store with huge posters and stacks of units. 

I was amazed that at one store there was massive Kinect promotions and PR people walking around and GT5 got... 1 TV playing a replay of a race. Now get this, it wasn't even an HD TV!!! It wasn't even an HD ready TV! It was some cheap ass blurry TV that was so big that I could spot pixels and even fragmented blurring.

Every time I walk into these stores there are at least 2 people that walk in and say:''Hey, what's this. This looks cool. And then they buy it.'' No Move promotions. No Wii display. Nothing.

If you think most people buy Kinect because they 'love it', then you are horribly mistaken.

MS have done well to get these sales, but I have yet to speak with someone who bought Kinect and has been full of praise. Most of my friends have spoken about it the way people spoke about Wii when it was taking over the world. Something like, ''Oh yeah it's fun if there are some people at your house, but I hardly ever play it alone. It get's boring fast.'' Another friend said that he doesn't know what games to buy, or even that Move with Heavy Rain or Resident Evil 5 is cooler.

How can you say it's not mainly due to marketing? Why the hell would MS spend HALF A BILLION DOLLARS to market it then?

I will only 'Jump In' if Child of Eden is as trippy and lag free as I imagine it and/or there is some serious core-game support this year.

Wrong.

The initial sales, i.e. Nov/Dec, are directly attributed to the massive advertising campaign.

The sales of 2011 and beyond (don't know why you think it will be around for "decades") will be based on word of mouth, which I agree is been very positive.

I doubt it. It is more than likely purchased with the 4GB 360 and seen as a deal. Most people I know who have it shelved it already.

Typical for haters to come in and add that they think it's because jesus presented it on mtv one night. If it sucked it would have flopped by now. I see Just as many adds for move but yet I don't see the sales that Kinect has recieved.

 You know the reason people bought it around me, THEY TRIED IT.  Thats over 5 people that bought it because they liked it. Not because the adds are so convincing that people just will go blow 300 like that. It's because it's a good product.

HERE COME THE HATERS. ARE THESE NOT THE SAME PEOPLE THAT SAY OR DID SAY BASICALLY THE SAME THING ABOUT THE WII.

You have seen a few different Kevin Butler ads on TV. Kinect had Burger King, Oprah, Ellen Degeneres, Walmart, etc.

people really need to stop typing etc when they have nothing else to add.

Yes initial sales are to do with advertising. As some people are saying the fact that it is still going strong is a lot to do with word of mouth

I know I saw my parents (ages 58 and 63) play video games for the first time in my life, and have a blast doing it on my Kinect! I just brought it out for my kids and my brothers, and then the whole family was laughing and having a blast. I know that the games are not hardcore, or anything remotely close. But, I found myself(and the rest of my family) laughing my ass off as my dad kept trying to figure out how to throw the javeline. Seriously, I was crying I was laughing so hard!

I wish people would just give up the console war thing for a while, and remember why we play video games in the first place; TO HAVE FUN!!! Trust me, I'm all about the hardcore gaming, but I don't think I've laughed that hard in years. And the best part about it is that my whole family was having fun with me.

He said there's just as many Move ads as there are Kinect ads.....which just isn't true. Not to mention everything that Kinect did beyond conventional ads. I hardly consider it "having nothing else to add" when #1 dude was completely wrong, and #2 it was in directly addressing Kinect's sales based upon advertising and word of mouth. 

Now, let's put this all together. Kinect = more and better advertisement ---> more sales ---> more word of mouth. The positive word of mouth is an indirect cause of more word of mouth. That's all anyone who disagrees with the thread OP is trying to say. 

You don't get word of mouth without the sales. And you don't get the sales without the advertisements