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Xbox Live Rakes in $1 Billion a Year, MSFT Employee Sheds Light on Kin's 'HUGE Fail'

by Warren Riddle on July 8, 2010 at 11:45 AM

Xbox Live Billions

Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines....
  • Last month, Forbes estimated that Microsoft's Xbox Live marketplace earns the company $1 billion a year, and that has now been echoed by Bloomberg. The $1 billion is thanks to the 12.5 million members who drop $50 on annual subscription fees, just so they can pay still more for various virtual goods like costumes and character attributes. [From: Engadget]
  • When Microsoft killed its short-lived Kin social networking phones, a certain reviewer exclaimed "good riddance" to the "sissy," useless mobiles. An unnamed Microsoft employee has reportedly echoed those sentiments, saying he was "embarrassed" by Microsoft's "HUGE fail." Even more damaging to the company, another unnamed insider attested that consumers only purchased a humiliatingly paltry total of 503 units. [From: Daring Fireball]
  • According to Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto, the Nintendo Mii avatars may soon leave the comfortable confines of their Wii homes to explore new Nintendo territories, including the 3DS. [From: Engadget]
  • Despite the obvious dangers inherent to texting while driving and other forms of vehicular cell distractions, a Washington lobbyist group recently formed the Drive Coalition. The Coalition apparently hoped to deflect attention from cellular distractions, and instead focus on activities like eating, but the group has already been dissolved. In typical lobbyist fashion, group spokesman Babak Zafarnia claimed the Coalition was no longer needed, because "the concept has met its goal of expanding dialogue on distracted driving." Even if that dialogue consisted of: "What an incredibly stupid idea?" [From: The New York Times]
  • Ford consistently investigates methods of maintaining technological relevance, particularly with its revolutionary Sync program. The company now aims to combat the deadly texting while driving epidemic with a new in-car translation system. The Message Access Profile feature, which Ford is developing with RIM, will first arrive on Blackberry devices, and would conceivably vocalize incoming text messages. Ford's latest Sync upgrades, with MyFord Touch, should appear with 2011 models. [From: Mashable]

Tags: FordSync, kin, lobbyists, microsoft, MicrosoftKin, mii, morningxtra, TextingWhileDriving, top, wii, xbox, XboxLive

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