Microsoft has announced that it has sold 2.5 million units of its Kinect motion controller in the last 25 days. The Xbox 360 accessory is now available at more than 60,000 retailers in 38 countries.
Two weeks ago, the software giant was celebrating that it had sold 1 million units of the Kinect in 10 days. Doing some basic math, it appears that overall momentum has not yet slowed (100,000 Kinects sold each day). The company said that strong demand from the Black Friday weekend were what made the difference.
It's important to remember that the 2.5 million number isn't the amount of units shipped, nor is it the amount of units sold to retailers. Instead, it's the number of Kinects that have actually been sold to consumers. The Kinect's early success is good news for those who bought the hardware early: it means developers will be more willing to work on more and more intuitive games.
"We are thrilled about the consumer response to Kinect, and are working hard with our retail and manufacturing partners to expedite production and shipments of Kinect to restock shelves as fast as possible to keep up with demand," Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, said in a statement. "With sales already exceeding two and a half million units in just 25 days, we are on pace to reach our forecast of 5 million units sold to consumers this holiday."
Last month, financial analysts at Bernstein Research called Apple's iPad the most quickly adopted non-phone electronic device ever. Its adoption rate was faster than the DVD player. More specifically, Apple's latest and greatest sold 2 million units in two months.
It appears that the Kinect has made sure that the iPad didn't keep its crown for long. With 2.5 million units sold in under a month, it's already winning, and the 2010 holiday season isn't even here yet. Of course, Microsoft predicted this would happen two months ago: "The preorders have been really strong. As far as what we're looking at for holiday, this is going to be stuff that'll blow away any of the sales you've seen with iPad. The Xbox 360 is already selling better than the Wii and Sony right now. Kinect's really just going to boost that to a whole new level."