"Failure to hit target leads the company to switch focus to longer-term goal

Microsoft has admitted that its '3 million Xbox 360 unit sales within 90 days of launch' figure it proudly predicted just prior to the console's debut will not be met.

A report in the Financial Times today states the company is switching focus to the slightly longer term, Microsoft now saying that by the end of its financial year in June Xbox 360 sales will have hit between four million and five-and-a-half million.

Analysts reckon unit sales had hit around 1.3 million by the end of the holiday season.

Demand for Xbox 360 has been extremely high - in the West at least - so would the '3 million consoles in 90 days' target have been met had supply problems not existed? Well maybe, but we'll never know. Evidence that shortages are to be eased any time soon still remains elusive for retailers.

"Nothing's perfect - you've got a complex piece of hardware that includes 1,700 different parts. Every now and again the line will slow down because something's happened and there'll be a component that didn't make it that morning, "Xbox 360 chief Peter Moore explained. "That's just the way of the beast, particularly when you are ramping up factories from ground zero all the way up to full capacity."

Touching on Microsoft's switch of focus, Moore added that "[Manufacturer] Celestica coming online makes us feel real good about our ability to do 4.5m to 5.5m, and June is important because it's our fiscal year".

It's expected that, come summer, demand and supply for Xbox 360 should have reached a state of equilibrium." [link]