Microsoft to expand Xbox 360 warranty
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Blog: The software maker will cover the game console for up to three years for certain hardware failures. Microsoft says it is taking a charge of more than a billion dollars to cover the cost of the move, which followed an investigation into reports of problems
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Microsoft Corp.  said on Thursday it would take a more than $1 billion charge in the most recent quarter due to costs for a new extended warranty program for its Xbox 360 video game console.
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Microsoft Corp. said on Thursday it would  launch the advanced version of its Xbox 360 game console, Xbox  360 Elite, on October 11 in Japan, a country where sales of its  game gear lag far behind rival machines from Nintendo Co. Ltd.  and Sony Corp.
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Microsoft Corp  is offering to  replace damaged discs of its just-launched &quot;Halo 3&quot; game for  the Xbox amid reports that special limited-edition packaging is  scratching them.
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Microsoft Corp. said on Thursday it would launch the advanced version of its Xbox 360 game console, Xbox 360 Elite, on October 11 in Japan, a country where sales of its game gear trail far behind rival machines from Nintendo Co. Ltd. and Sony Corp.
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Microsoft Corp.  said on Thursday said it would take a more than $1 billion charge to fix "an unacceptable number of repairs" to its Xbox 360 video game consoles and had missed shipment targets for the end of June.
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InfoWorld - Just days after&#160;Microsoft took an earnings charge of&#160;more than $1 billion&#160;to fix hardware problems in Xbox 360 consoles, a class-action suit says that the consoles also damage game discs.
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Microsoft announced a major support upgrade, clearer road maps, and a new financing option for its Dynamics range of business applications on Wednesday.On the support side, Microsoft will offer five years of extended support beyond the five-year mainstream support period for its CRM (customer relationship management), ERP (enterprise resource planning), and retail management products.&quot;Ten years in this industry is quite a long time,&quot; said Kirill Tatarinov, a vice president in Microsoft&#39;s division that deals with business applications, who introduced the program during a keynote speech at Convergence 2007.The plan, called Business Ready Customer Care, means customers won&#39;t necessarily be forced to upgrade. The price of the support will vary according to what software the customer has.&quot;We don&#39;t want customers to upgrade on our timeline,&quot; said Barb Edson, senior marketing director for Microsoft&#39;s Dynamics products.Tatarinov said customers who still don&#39;t want to move to a new version of a Dynamics product can also buy custom support for older versions, which will extend support beyond 10 years.&quot;Should you choose to stay for whatever business or technical reason, we will support you,&quot; Tatarinov said.Microsoft has also extended its premier support service to Dynamics. The service includes 24-hour technical support and can accommodate on-site visits. Microsoft&#39;s Dynamics line includes the ERP programs AX, GP, NAV, and SL; its CRM application, and its Retail Management Solution products.In another announcement, Tatarinov said the company will release a new version of its Dynamics products every two years, with a feature or service pack every year or so. He also said Microsoft will publish documents that give a clear road map of its forthcoming products up to 18 months in advance.&quot;We are committing to effectively give you a statement of direction for every product we will be delivering,&quot; Tatarinov said.Microsoft hasn&#39;t hit the original deadlines it set for at least two software products in its Dynamics line. The company said on Tuesday that&#160;Dynamics NAV 6.0, one of its ERP applications for mid-size companies, won&#39;t be released until the middle of next year. Also,&#160;Dynamics CRM 4.0, code-named Titan, is now due by the end of the year but was originally scheduled for release in June or July.Tatarinov laid out Microsoft&#39;s roadmap for several Dynamics products. AX 5.0, which will include 500 new features such as VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) and instant messaging, will be released between April and June next year.Two other ERP products, SL 8.0 and GP 11, will be built on Microsoft&#39;s next release of its Office suite, called Office 14, Tatarinov said. Those products will ship within 90 days of Office 14, which is scheduled for release in 2009, he said. Roadmaps should be published soon for both of those products.NAV 6.0 and Entrepreneur 2008, an ERP application for small businesses, will come out in the second half of next year. Entrepreneur will be expanded globally for 2009, Tatarinov said.The newest version of C5, an ERP product used mostly in Denmark, will come out by the end of year.On the financing side, Microsoft is adding a new financing plan that lets customers make fixed, regular payments for software under its Total Solution Financing program. That program is now in 14 countries and will be expanded to others, Tatarinov said.Leasing terms range from 24 to 60 months, which should allow business more flexible money management, starting as low as &#8364;50 ($71) per month, Microsoft said.&#160;
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Microsoft Corp  does not  expect sales of its Xbox 360 game console to suffer if Toshiba  Corp (6502.T) discontinues HD DVD technology, Microsoft said in  a statement on Monday.
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Microsoft Corp.  said on  Thursday said it would take a more than $1 billion charge to  fix "an unacceptable number of repairs" to its Xbox 360 video  game consoles and had missed shipment targets for the end of  June.
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Microsoft Corp.  on  Wednesday said it expects to have shipped more than 10 million  Xbox 360 video game consoles to retailers by the end of  calendar 2006.
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Microsoft Corp., facing its second Xbox 360 headache of the summer, will replace parts of its Wireless Racing Wheel video game controllers after 50 reports that they overheated and released smoke.
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Microsoft Corp  is offering to  replace damaged discs of its just-launched "Halo 3" game for  the Xbox amid reports that special limited-edition packaging is  scratching them.
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Microsoft Corp  is offering to replace damaged discs of its just-launched "Halo 3" game for the Xbox amid reports that special limited-edition packaging is scratching them.
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Console to get 1080p support with software update Microsoft will ship the Xbox 360's eagerly anticipated external HD DVD drive to Japanese consumers on 17 November, the software giant revealed today at the Tokyo Games Show. The announcement paves the way for similar declarations concerning the peripheral's launch in the US and Europe.â¦
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Microsoft said today it will take a $1 billion charge to its earnings so it can offer an extended warranty to fix hardware problems on the Xbox 360.
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Microsoft Corp.   said on Tuesday it will hold firm on pricing for its  Xbox 360 game console, defying widespread expectations that it  would respond to a price cut by rival Sony Corp. (6758.T) for  the PlayStation 3.