On the 15^th of November, 2001, the world’s largest developer of software unveiled its major consumer electronics product that redefined its strategy and unlocked new markets. Today, a decade later, the world celebrates ten years anniversary of Microsoft Xbox, the console that managed to successfully compete against well-established players like Nintendo and Sony.

Since the introduction of the very first Xbox game console, Microsoft has shipped over eighty million of its video game systems, sold hundreds of millions of games and introduce hundreds of promising technologies and innovations. Xbox Live currently has 35 million members worldwide who spend 2.1 billion hours a month on the service. Introduced a year ago, Kinect for Xbox 360 set a Guinness World Record as the fastest-selling consumer electronic device, selling 8 million units in 60 days.

Although Microsoft Xbox received rather warm welcome initially in the United States, it was largely behind market leader Sony PlayStation 2 and could barely outsell Nintendo’s GameCube. As a consequence, Microsoft had to introduce next-generation Xbox 360 system roughly four years after the original one.

But the Xbox 360 has become a hit across the world. With over 58 million units sold to date, the X360 ignited the high-definition revolution on the game console market and created a number of new opportunities for Microsoft thanks to add-on hardware like Kinect motion sensor.

The Xbox is evolving and what started as a standard-definition game system with dialup Internet access and mediocre controller is now a high-definition game console with high-speed Internet and motion-sensor. Who knows what will Xbox become in 2021?

Tags: Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox Next