http://www.mygen.com.au/article.php?...id=29&format=2
Dean Takahashi, a respected tech journalist has posted the following on his blog:
"Sunday, January 07, 2007
Microsoft Crosses 10 million Xbox 360s Sold, Announces Xbox 360 Can Be IPTV Set-Top
Dean Takahashi, 06:30 PM in Dean Takahashi, Gaming
Bill Gates and Robbie Bach are expected to announce at the Consumer Electronics Show that Microsoft has sold more than 10.4 million Xbox 360s since the launch in November, 2005. That means Microsoft has also hit its targets for sales of consoles during the holidays.
Microsoft is also dropping something of a bomb at the show. Jim Brady, a spokesman for Microsoft, said Gates and Bach will say in the keynote speech Sunday night at the Venetian Hotel that the Xbox 360 will be able to serve as a set-top box for IPTV, or Internet protocol television. The details on this announcement are sketchy and Brady says only that it will appear later this year.
stBut that raises the specter of how much of a black box will the video game console become. If you can get your television, movies, music and other entertainment downloaded from the telephone companies such as AT&T -- a major IPTV provider that is using Microsoft's IPTV software -- and have it accessible through your Xbox 360, what else do you need? Maybe you don't need a PC.
For sure, there are a ton of unanswered questions here. But the prospects are interesting. Could AT&T give away Xbox 360s for free in exchange for users signing up for subscriptions to IPTV service, which gives high-definition programs, video on demand, and digital video recording? Will Microsoft have to come out with a larger hard disk drive for the Xbox 360 in order to allow it to fulfill the digital video recording function? Brady declined to comment. He did say that no consumers would be left behind, meaning that all of the 10 million plus Xbox 360s in the market would be able to participate in the IPTV services at some level.
Brady says gamers have shown that they like Xbox Live Marketplace and are downloading videos and music more than Microsoft anticipated already, even with the small 20-gigabyte hard disk on the Xbox 360.
In other details, Microsoft declined to say how many Zune music/video players it sold during the holidays. It will only say that it is targeting 1 million sold by June 30. There over 5 million Xbox Live members, though the paid portion is not borken out. Marketplace downloads, messages and other features are exceeding expectations.
Lastly, Nintendo hasn't yet disclosed how many Wiis it sold during the holidays. But Beth Lewellyn, a spokeswoman for Nintendo of America, said that sales in North America exceeded Nintendo's expectations. Nintendo predicted it would sell four million consoles worldwide by Dec. 31, but she could not confirm that number."
The article has now been pulled from the blog, possibly due to being put up early as the date clearly suggests ( Sunday January 07, 2007). If this turns out to be true, this is a huge step for Microsoft and the Xbox 360.
