If you’re just dying for the latest numbers coming out of Microsoft’s CES press conference, I’ve got you covered. Armchair market analysis was never as sexy as it is now.
Speaking to what I’m sure was a positively rapt audience, besweatered Microsoft CEO Steve “Bing” Ballmer explained that “nearly 10 million people have logged into Xbox Live’s nongaming applications” which include “Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Last.fm, Sky, Canal and Zune.” Those numbers become less impressive when you consider that a lot of those people probably logged on once to poke around and never returned to the services. Nevertheless, that’s a lot of Gold accounts — at $50 a year, Microsoft is looking at $500 million of revenue, not counting the ads that run on Xbox Live or Arcade sales. Woof.
There are also “39 million Xbox 360s around the world,” surely cornering that burgeoning “global middle-class” in Zimbabwe. 500 million games have been sold, raking in what I assume is an impressive $20 billion at retail. I presume that Steve “Natural Interfaces” Ballmer is rather proud of his company, but I don’t really have a good frame of reference — I got into this gig because I like Mario, and all those zeroes make my eyes cross.
I’m sure we have some number-crunchers in the audience, though. Quick hit: do you guys have any financial predictions for Microsoft in 2010?
