Ok, pop quiz.
The fastest selling consumer electronics device of all time is…
- Apple’s crazy-popular iPhone
- Apple’s crazy-popular iPad, or
- Microsoft’s motion sensor-based Kinect
Sorry Apple, you lose this round.
If you thought the Microsoft’s add-on camera tracker for its Xbox gaming system would be just be a novelty item appealing to a certain sector of gamers, well you still may be right. But that sector is pretty large and apparently keeps getting larger.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Kinect sold 8 million units from its launch date of November 4 until January 3, the largest 60-day total of any consumer electronics device ever recorded. To date, the Kinect has sold 10 million units.
The Kinect is the ultimate user gaming experience, as the device’s infrared camera tracks body movements which enables users to control what happens on screen with those movements. With games like Kinect Sports and Dance Central leading the way, over 10 million Kinect games have been sold and anticipation continues to build for future releases like Michael Jackson: The Experience.
Microsoft doesn’t plan to stop here. It’s already been announced that the technology will soon be made to work with PCs, which will expand its use from strictly games and into realms including social and other forms of entertainment.
On top of that, developers all over have hacked into the technology to create a plethora of unique uses for the Kinect, including syncing its controls with popular games of yesteryear to creating a virtual keyboard that plays anywhere. These developments have shown so much promise, that Microsoft released a kit to allow further dissection of its technology by curious amateurs.
Microsoft hopes the future of computer interaction changes beginning with the Kinect. Let the records show that Microsoft made history with its groundbreaking device. Now we anxiously await to see how it will connect with us in the future.
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Tags: Microsoft, video games, Xbox, Xbox Kinect
