Microsoft predicts record-breaking Xbox 360, Xbox One sales Forecasts 100 million for Xbox
360, 1 billion for all next-gen
By Matt Swider May 25th
Reports of the Xbox 360's death are greatly exaggerated. Sure,
Microsoft announced Xbox One this week, but the company is still
hoping to sell a total of 100 million Xbox 360 consoles.
"We believe over the next five years we can break a 100 million unit
installed base," said Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's senior vice president of
Interactive Entertainment Business to the Official Xbox Magazine.
These rough numbers would mean that Microsoft would have to sell
another 23 million Xbox 360 systems, having last reported 77.2 million
units sold worldwide in April.
"Half of those will probably come from replacements, but half will come from new buyers," he noted to the magazine.
Xbox 360 announcement at E3 2013
Microsoft is determined to keep the Xbox 360 and its massive power brick plugged into your home entertainment system.
To do that, the company, as previously reported, is promising a "huge" E3 announcement related to the currentgeneration console.
"You'll see the Xbox 360 continue to exist, even as we launch the next generation Xbox One," noted Mehdi.
It also doesn't hurt that Xbox One won't play Xbox 360 games, forcing gamers who have a library full of physical and
digital Xbox 360 games to rely on the seven-year-old machine.
Next-generation sales predictions
At 100 million Xbox 360 units sold, Microsoft would quadruple the sales of the original Xbox. Although analysts have
predicted that console makers may have trouble reaching such numbers due to smartphone and tablet competition, Mehdi
expects that growth to continue.
"Every generation, as you've probably heard, has grown approximately 30 percent," said Mehdi.
"So this generation is about 300 million units. Most industry experts think the next generation will get upwards of about
400 million units to potentially upwards of a billion units," he said, including Xbox One, PS4 and Wii U in that total.
Next-generation sales haven't begun yet, but the battle of Xbox One vs. PS4 has, and you can now read about the
matchup.
http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/consoles/microsoft-predicts-record-breaking-xbox-360-xbox-one-sales-1154375
'The Daily Show': Brit John Oliver temps at a
late-night desk job
'Daily Show' correspondent John Oliver fills in for host Jon Stewart this summer.
By Meredith Blake, Los Angeles Times. June 7, 2013, 7:00 a.m.
Somewhere in South London, there's a storage unit that's a veritable time capsule of John Oliver's
life, circa 2006. That's when, as a young comedian on the rise in the U.K., he got a call from "The
Daily Show."
He landed in New York on a Sunday and made his debut as the show's "Senior British
Correspondent" the very next day. Assuming he'd be fired within a month, he had signed only a fourweek lease.
Seven years later, if there's anyone at "The Daily Show" who ought to feel secure in his job, it's
Oliver: On Monday, the Cambridge-educated comedian will begin a summer-long stint as host when
Jon Stewart takes a leave of absence to direct his first feature film, "Rosewater."
But Oliver, 36, is not quite willing to believe that he's made it. While everyone else on "The Daily
Show" staff is enjoying a week of hiatus, Oliver is toiling away in his office, a small space dominated
by a framed Liverpool F.C. jersey.
Given the intimidating task of steering "The Daily Show" in Stewart's absence, it's not hard to understand why Oliver is
putting in overtime. Since Stewart came on board in 1999, "The Daily Show" has become a cultural touchstone.
With an average of 2.5 million viewers a night, it's the top-rated late-night show among viewers under 50 and has racked
up an unprecedented 10 straight Emmys for variety series. Though Stewart tends to downplay his influence, his highprofile interviews and blistering critiques of targets like Fox News have earned him a reputation as a latter-day Edward R.
Murrow — the kind of personality who can draw 200,000 people to a rally on the National Mall.
Put another way, Oliver has some pretty big shoes to fill. Nevertheless, he agreed without hesitation to fill in for Stewart
because, he says, "I'd do anything for him. I'll paint his house if he wants."
For the time being, though, Oliver is focused on humorously lowering everyone's expectations.
"The goal is just don't have this building on fire when he returns, like one of those high-school-party-gone-wrong movies.
You know, the parents are out of town and then they come home and it's just the smoking remains of what used to be
their home," he jokes. "That's the worst-case scenario."
Despite all the self-effacement, Oliver was "the obvious choice" to fill in for Stewart, according to executive producer Rory
Albanese. Citing Oliver's strengths as a writer, producer and on-camera performer, he predicts a relatively seamless
transition. "I wouldn't be too worried that the show won't be as funny," he says. "It's just going to be in proper English."
It helps that, unlike previous correspondents who've used "The Daily Show" as a professional steppingstone, Oliver sees
the gig as an end unto itself. Though he keeps busy with his podcast, "The Bugle," and continues to perform stand-up (his
latest special, "John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show," airs July 26 on Comedy Central), Oliver says he "couldn't
imagine being anywhere else."
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-john-oliver-daily-show-jon-stewart-comedy-central20130607,0,2195367.story
Hungary Industry Expands as Government Predicts Recovery
By Zoltan Simon - Jun 7, 2013 5:05 AM CT
Hungary’s industrial output expanded in April for the first time this year, exceeding economist forecasts and underscoring
the government’s prediction of an economic turnaround. The forint and stocks gained.
Industrial production rose a workday-adjusted 2.9 percent in April, the biggest gain since December 2011, the statistics
office in Budapest said today based on preliminary data. The median estimate of 11 economists in a Bloomberg survey
was 1.4 percent. Output rose 1.2 percent from March. The country posted a 700.5 million-euro ($927 million) trade surplus
in April, compared with a 523 million-euro estimate in a separate poll.
“There is an underlying turnaround in the Hungarian economy,” Zoltan Torok, an analyst at Raiffeisen Bank International
AG (RBI) in Budapest, said in an e-mail today. “We have expected such a turnaround to kick in during the course of 2013
anyway, alas only for the second half, however, the statistics suggest that it has come earlier than we have estimated.”
Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who faces elections in 2014, has sounded an optimistic tone about the outlook for the
economy, saying May 30 that it’s “one of the most promising inEurope.” Gross domestic product may grow 1 percent this
year, according to the premier, whose forecast exceeds the government’s 0.7 percent projection and the European
Union’s 0.2 percent estimate.
Forint Gains
Hungary’s currency gained 0.4 percent against the euro to 296.80 per euro as of 11 a.m. in Budapest, advancing for a
second day. The forint, the best performer among more than 20 emerging-market currencies with a 0.6 percent gain in the
past three months, dropped to a four-week low on June 5 amid investor concern that the Federal Reserve may reduce
stimulus as the U.S. economy improves.
Hungary’s recovery from a recession has been hampered by plunging investment and shrinking industrial output in the
first quarter. GDP rose 0.7 percent from the previous three months in the first quarter, expanding for the first time since
2011. Economic output declined 0.9 percent from the first three months of 2012.
Agriculture Expands
First-quarter growth was driven by agriculture expanding 12.3 percent from a year earlier and construction growing 4.2
percent, benefiting from a low base. Still, fixed capital formation, an indicator of investment, declined 5.6 percent, industry
contracted 3.2 percent and household consumption fell 1.2 percent, the statistics office said yesterday.
April retail sales rising 3.4 from a year earlier, the most since September 2006, point to “upside risks” to JPMorgan Chase
& Co. (JPM)’s estimate of 1 percent seasonally adjusted annual economic growth in the second quarter, Nora
Szentivanyi, an economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in London, said in an e-mail.
“With only April data at hand and mixed messages from the May surveys we feel it is too early for us to revise our secondquarter forecast,” she wrote “The markedly stronger retail sales figure and today’s industrial production print both suggest
that the slowdown in sequential growth might not be as sharp as we are forecasting.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-07/hungary-industry-expands-as-government-predicts-recovery.html
iPad sales may be lower than expected, says analyst
The tablet's sales last quarter may have been hampered by supply contraints, says a J.P. Morgan analyst.
The iPad may have missed out on a healthy chunk of sales last quarter due to limited
supply, says J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz.
In an investors note out today, Moskowitz said he believes unit sales of the iPad and iPad
Mini combined will be lighter than expected for the final quarter of 2012, which marks
Apple's first fiscal quarter of 2013. He's now predicting unit sales of 18.4 million, down
from his prior forecast of 20.1 million.
"Our research indicates that near-term supply constraints impacted iPad sell-in activity
during the seasonally-stronger holiday season," the analyst said. "Supply did not improve
until early December. In our view, it was a supply, not demand issue."
Moskowitz sees the iPad shortfall as a short-term "blip." But he believes Apple's
explanation of the sales decline will be important, especially as the iPad gears up to take
on a bigger role over the next few years.
"We think that, barring entry of another new category, the iPad likely will need to shoulder more of the incremental
revenue growth as the iPhone's incremental growth starts to taper off in coming years," the analyst said.
Apple has been hurt lately by reports of a cut in iPhone 5 component orders. But like a few other analysts, Moskowitz
sees this as "bear mongering" and believes Apple will likely grow along with the overall smartphone market.
Looking at unit sales, J.P Morgan sees the global smartphone market growing 30.5 percent this year. Over the same time,
the iPhone is forecast to grow 28.6 percent.
Apple should be able to eke out more profits from the iPhone, particularly as carriers in Europe ramp up their LTE
networks over the next 12 to 18 months.
The analyst has upped his forecast for the iPhone's gross margins in the belief that the recent order cuts may be a sign of
manufacturing improvements. If margins on the iPhone 5 can return to 40 percent, Moskowitz believes the "bear
mongering" is likely to ease up. He expects iPhone sales for the calendar fourth quarter to reach 47.9 million, with the
iPhone 5 accounting for 25 million of those.