Microsoft: 66m Xbox 360s sold, 18m Kinects shipped
Metro, Kinect and interactive Sesame Street are the stars of CES keynote
Despite vague rumours of hardware reveals, Microsoft's CES keynote last night concentrated on current products, with a strong emphasis on the Metro interface and Kinect.
CEO Steve Ballmer revealed that 66 million Xbox 360s had been sold since its 2005 release, there were 40 million Xbox Live users, and 18 million Kinects had shipped since 2010.
"We're the world sales leader for the last year in console," said Ballmer.
Even so, the focus didn't seem to be on games as much as new features, with the Kinect's new dashboard voice control demonstrated and a new News Corp app, featuring content from Fox, Wall Street Journal and IGN announced.
Kinect took centre stage again as Ballmer announced a new use for the service, interactive television. This will allow users to connect directly with TV shows. The first compatible programme will be Kinect Sesame Street TV, and Ballmer introduced a demo that showed users throwing coconuts into a box using motion control.
Ballmer also revealed that Kinect for Windows would be available February 1. More than 200 companies, including toy makers Mattel and Toyota, are currently creating apps.
Windows 8, with its new Metro interface familiar to those with a Windows phone or who have updated their Xbox 360 dash recently, was declared "a new way of thinking about your PC," and a Windows Store, which will allow users to purchase apps like Cut The Rope, was also on show.
The current OS, Windows 7, now has over 500 million users, with seven more every second.
The Windows phone also came up with some impressive figures, with 300 new apps arriving on the marketplace very day, and 50,000 currently available.
The keynote was co-hosted by Ryan Seacrest, best known for his role in American Idol.