So how many 360s did they ship? About 4-5m for the qrt? $100 saving on production per unit = $500m saving... (seems about right?)

So 360s are $100 cheaper to make today than they were 12 months ago.

so they make about $50 profit for a xbox360

I believe it says/shows that Microsoft shipped 4.3 million units this quarter (versus 4.4 in 2006's Q4), but shipped 6.1m for the past 6 months (vs 5.4 for 6months in 2006).

So Q4 was down 100,000, but Q3-4 was up 700,000.

Decreased marketing expenses, as far as I could say would probably have to do with the fact that MS didn't have to over-market a top-tier game like Gears of War this quarter unlike '06.

This quarter, Halo3 wise, represents all of the post-launch shipping. Although no numbers exist, I'd assume that Microsoft shipped atleast half of the current 8 million H3 copies in the previous quarter, so this quarter remained about the same.

The big news is that the profit increased $150m primarily on console sales + 3rd party hardware sales (versus last quarter) - which shows what is exactly profitable now.

That'd also assume the increase of $150m was the result (possibly) of the extra 2.7 million hardware units shipped, or a profit of $55.55 per console. Atleast that'd be my assuption.

hoorray for microsoft

They just said in the conference call they planned on being profitable for the entire year.

Yeah, they had one.

wow they made alot this quater

I definitely believe that. I can't wait to see Sony's report, and MS's 3rd quarter report, just to prove to folks the 360 isn't the original Xbox, nor will it phail like that one did.

Props to MS ...

*I give MS the peace sign as I head back to the Flux dance floor with Gunnery Chief Ashley ...* 

Goodwill 10,309 4,760

Just looking at their financial statements (I'm an accountant, sue me), and this line struck me as absolutely hilarious. (1st number is Dec 31, 2nd is June 30)

This is a 5.6 billion dollar (unaudited) increase in Goodwill over 6 months. For those that don't find accounting interesting, this will not be funny to you. For people who are interested in accounting, they will find this absolutely hilarious.

Goodwill - Because everything you pay for has to be an asset!

Anyhow, congrats to Microsoft, yet I won't lie about the fact I would't mind them losing money this entire generation. Not because Microsoft is a large evil corporation (We have Pfizer and Shell and MomCo) but because they shipped an awfully made product and may make money off it, and that is not behavior I want to see a corporation rewarded for often. Make a product that has less quality than something you buy in a Mexican marketplace, I want the market to bitch slap you, not have half your users apologize or try to pretend it doesn't exist. Oh well. I'm not God, I'm not Adam Smith's invisible, immobile Hand, so it's just a begrudging congrats.