MICROSOFT DELAYS XBOX JAPAN LAUNCH TO FEB.(Reuters Reuters British cooperative news agency. Founded in 1851 by Paul Julius Reuter, it was initially concerned with commercial news but began to serve a growing newspaper clientele after the London Morning Advertiser subscribed in 1858. ) - U.S. software giant Microsoft (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, www.microsoft.com) The most successful and influential software company. Microsoft's software and Intel's hardware pioneered the PC and revolutionized the computer industry. Corp said on Monday it would delay the Japanese launch of its Xbox game console See video game console. to February 22 from an initially planned debut late this year. While the delay means Microsoft will miss the key year-end shopping season in the lucrative Japanese market, analysts said it came as little surprise because the software giant appeared to be focusing on the home market. "We had expected the Xbox to appear in Japan around March, so this is not a surprise," said Nobumasa Morimoto, senior analyst at Tokyo-Mitsubishi Securities. In its first foray into Verb 1. foray into - enter someone else's territory and take spoils; "The pirates raided the coastal villages regularly" raid encroach upon, intrude on, obtrude upon, invade - to intrude upon, infringe, encroach on, violate; "This new colleague invades my the hardware business and gaming industry, Microsoft is set to compete with advanced machines from Japanese rivals Sony Corp and Nintendo Co. "The news is factored into the share prices of Sony and Nintendo and it will not be a fresh boost for them," Morimoto said. Microsoft said its U.S. launch was still set for November 8, as scheduled. On Monday, it reiterated that it would ship an initial 600,000 to 800,000 of the consoles in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . The postponement of the Japanese launch follows a delay by Nintendo, which said last Thursday it would push back the U.S. launch of its next-generation GameCube console to November 18 from November 5 so it could have more machines in stock ahead of the Thanksgiving Thanksgiving annual U.S. holiday celebrating harvest and yearly blessings; originated with Pilgrims (1621). [Am. Culture: EB, IX: 922] See : America Thanksgiving national holiday with luxurious dinner as chief ritual. [Am. Pop. holiday at the end of November. Nintendo and Microsoft trail market leader Sony, whose blockbuster block·bust·er n. 1. Something, such as a film or book, that sustains widespread popularity and achieves enormous sales. 2. A high-explosive bomb used for demolition purposes. 3. PlayStation game machines account for nearly two-thirds of the U.S. home-use game market. Analysts said Microsoft would likely have trouble winning a big share of the Japanese market because of a relatively poor software line-up, although they said it could succeed in the U.S. market. "The Xbox may attract game maniacs, but it will have a hard time reaching a large customer base here because the price is likely to be higher than other consoles and its software line-up weaker than its rivals'," Morimoto said. The company has not unveiled a price for Xbox in Japan, but analysts expect it to exceed the 35,000 yen ($291.4) for Sony's PlayStation 2, which went on sale last March, and 25,000 yen for Nintendo's GameCube, set to hit stores in Japan on September 14. |
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