Brett
11-21-2005, 10:51 AM
Here's the good news: Retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Best Buy Co., Circuit City Stores Inc. and Target Corp. say they plan to have consoles available at all locations on Tuesday. What's more, retailers say they expect to get more consoles weekly leading up to Christmas, so people who don't get consoles immediately need not despair.
Here's the bad news: Most retailers won't say how many they'll have on launch day — for competitive reasons — and some locations could sell out quickly.
"There's a lot of excitement for this product," said Best Buy spokesman Jay Musolf. "Come early."
Microsoft has said it plans to sell 3 million of the new $399.99 Xbox 360 consoles worldwide within 90 days of its launch. (MSNBC is a Microsoft - NBC joint venture.) The company said it is producing Xboxes as fast as it can.
But it has conceded that an ambitious plan to launch the console worldwide within a few weeks — rather than staggering releases over months and months, as is typical — will mean fewer consoles initially in North America. A slimmed-down version without a detachable hard drive and wireless controller will sell for $299.99.
Apart from its high-definition graphics and gaming aptitude, the device offers users other capabilities: the ability to listen to music, view photos, watch DVDs and play electronic puzzle and card games.
"The supply problems are there in as much as the demand is unbelievable," said Peter Moore, a corporate vice president in charge of marketing for the Xbox.
But he denied production problems and dismissed "conspiracy theories," including that the company is purposefully bottlenecking supply to intensify interest.
"None of those are true whatsoever," he said.
Here's the bad news: Most retailers won't say how many they'll have on launch day — for competitive reasons — and some locations could sell out quickly.
"There's a lot of excitement for this product," said Best Buy spokesman Jay Musolf. "Come early."
Microsoft has said it plans to sell 3 million of the new $399.99 Xbox 360 consoles worldwide within 90 days of its launch. (MSNBC is a Microsoft - NBC joint venture.) The company said it is producing Xboxes as fast as it can.
But it has conceded that an ambitious plan to launch the console worldwide within a few weeks — rather than staggering releases over months and months, as is typical — will mean fewer consoles initially in North America. A slimmed-down version without a detachable hard drive and wireless controller will sell for $299.99.
Apart from its high-definition graphics and gaming aptitude, the device offers users other capabilities: the ability to listen to music, view photos, watch DVDs and play electronic puzzle and card games.
"The supply problems are there in as much as the demand is unbelievable," said Peter Moore, a corporate vice president in charge of marketing for the Xbox.
But he denied production problems and dismissed "conspiracy theories," including that the company is purposefully bottlenecking supply to intensify interest.
"None of those are true whatsoever," he said.