I saw a photograph in a newspaper yesterday in which Bill Gates was handing out the Xbox to a customer (white geek-looking male wearing glasses and a bad hat). The photograph and Gates' decision to personally hand over the first Xbox is just more evidence of Microsoft's brilliant and well-executed marketing campaign. In many ways - be it leaks,  "frank" discussions with major business publications or reports Xbox is already sold out (easy to do if you decide to "manage" the shipping process) - Microsoft has convinced the media and consumers the Xbox is a revolutionary product that is not only going to shake up the gaming industry but jump-start the company's growth prospects. In many respects, Microsoft has no choice but to put its marketing machine behind Xbox because it's not like the new version of Windows or Office 54 is going to blow away investors and consumers. Xbox is about buzz and sizzle, which Microsoft desperately needs more of. From a financial perspective, I'm not sure how much weight to put on a research report by iSuppli, which suggests Microsoft is losing $153 on every Xbox sold based on the cost of the components vs. the $399 retail sales price. If you're as big as Microsoft, you are likely get big volume discounts. Then again, the action is probably not in hardware but the software needed to use the new Xbox: it's the old razor and blades game. In any event, the fact I'm writing this post on Xbox just demonstrates how even the skeptics (and non-game players) out there have been caught in the Microsoft PR machine.