October 2007 Archives

Global IP Solutions (GIPS), today announced the release of its new VoIP softphone called REX. REX features multi-party instant messaging, advanced presence capabilities, voicemail and a comprehensible user-interface.

GIPS is well-known as one of the leading codecs that is licensed by third-party softphones, including Google Talk - and I might add Skype formerly utilized the GIPS codec. So it's interesting that GIPS is now building their own softphone client. At first glance it would seem GIPS' REX product would be competing against their softphone partners. However, REX can be rebranded and re-skinned to reflect the customers’ existing offerings. I guess it might be useful for companies that haven't built their own softphone client, but I certainly don't see Google Talk for instance throwing out all their existing software code to switch to REX.

I just noticed that their release also stated, "Current customers will be able to upgrade their existing softphone to this latest version." Huh? Is this saying that GIPS already offered a softphone called REX? I guess I didn't know about it. I googled for GIPS REX and only see the news announcement for today and nothing previous. Will have to look into this further.

In any event, GIPS positioned REX as follows: “REX is a greatly enhanced communication tool that enables users the capability to communicate more efficiently and with higher security and quality than other softphones can offer. These capabilities are especially important for enterprise users who need to be able to connect to their corporate phone systems from anywhere there is an internet connection,” said Wendy Toth, Global IP Solutions Marketing Director. “The latest version of REX on PC also offers the ability to speak without the aid of a headset due to GIPS superior patented technology. Users with REX on Smartphone or PDAs can turn their device into a VoIP phone enabling cost-effective business communication over the Internet to talk worldwide with GIPS renowned voice-quality.”

There is so much hype and hysteria surrounding the Google Phone that I can't keep up with all the various rumors and speculative articles. There's so much to read and so little time. Fortunately, I have a "proxy" to filter through the noise. Rich has a deep interest in the Google Phone so he's been reading up on all the various articles and making brief summaries of what the experts say the Google Phone will and won't be. If you're too busy like me to follow the Google Phone hysteria, here's a few posts Rich made that about sums it up:

Verizon Google Discuss Partnership
Google Negotiates with Sprint-Nextel
Google Phone

My own brief take on the Google Phone is that it most likely will be underwhelming. The problem with the Google Phone is that after the launch of the Apple iPhone, the bar has been set very high. I doubt the Google Phone will have multi-touch technology or any of the UI features that make the iPhone exude awesomeness. Google is a Web and software company trying to break into the already crowded mobile market. Hardware mobile manufacturers are already developing feature-rich mobile phones without Google's assistance, so having Google simply provide software won't cut it. Google needs to do what Apple did and design the hardware as well. And since Google has never been a hardware company, this is uncharted territory for them.

Of course, Google has billions of dollars they can allocate to R&D to develop hardware, so I don't count them out. But sometimes all the money in the world doesn't buy brain power, intellectual property, or patent rights. If it was simply a matter of money, GE with a market cap of $414B  (twice Google's market cap of $216B) would have developed a mobile phone by now. Unfortunately, my prediction is that the Google Phone will exude suckiness making this the first time Google touched something that didn't turn to gold.

TMC's Greg Galitzine has the goods on Digium leveraging their Switchvox acquisition right out of the box by offering it for free. Damn, that was fast! Digium just acquired Switchvox at the end of September. Hmm, how did Greg find out about this and not me? Maybe I've been bumped off of Digium's top tier press contact list for comparing Digium vs. Fonality as Superman vs. Bizarro? It did spark some controversy including an interview of Mark Spencer in an article titled "Bizarro VoIP: Is it evil? Do you care?" over at Techtarget.com, which has some interesting & heated comments at the bottom. Or Greg's scoop could just be that Greg was proactive about contacting Digium. No matter, I'm not bitter or anything.

Well, I'm not going to steal Greg's thunder about what the Switchvox Free Edition includes, so go check out his article.

You recall my SIP to Skype gateway breaks Skype's Great Wall of VoIP, right? You don't? Well, let me refresh your memory. I wrote:

As most techies know, Skype uses a proprietary protocol and does not support inbound SIP calls. If you ask Skype CEO, Niklas Zennstrom why Skype chose their own proprietary protocol, (which many reporters have asked him), he always gives the same canned reply - that they chose their own proprietary protocol because SIP doesn't do everything they need, SIP has issues traversing firewalls, our proprietary protocol is more flexible, blah blah blah. Even though there are now NAT traversal solutions for SIP that perhaps didn't exist a couple of years ago, Skype still hasn't moved to SIP and it doesn't look like they will.

Part of the blog post rants how SIP-based softphone users can't communicate with Skype users. Well, today I learned that a new Skype-to-SIP gateway called Skype SIP Gateway (PE) 1.0 from Zhink.com was recently released. This product allows two callers, one on Skype and the other with a SIP address, to communicate with each other. Sweet! By configuring this product and any SIP server (such as OpenSER, Asterisk, etc.) correctly, you can come up with many interesting working scenarios.

The following possible scenarios are listed on their website:

• Forward Skype callers who are your friends to your mobile number. This is very much like personal “skypeout”.
• Reject all Skype callers whom you do not know.
• Allow yourself and family members with own Skype accounts to call into interactive voice response system provided by Sip server. With this, you can do things like access your voice mails or dial out to PSTN lines.
• Using multiple Skype To Sip Gateways, you can now allow Sip users on different private Sip servers to communicate, using the gateways to provide internet connection via Skype network. This is much like local PBXs of branches of a company connected via internet. Note: This will require multiple PCs, each hosting one Personal Edition of this gateway.
• Allow Sip users on softphones like Ekiga, X-Lite and many others to contact Skype callers directly. The Sip users need not have Skype accounts.

Here are some screenshots of the software:







This screenshot above is interesting because I noticed it is using the jackd daemon. The jackd daemon is part of JACK, "a low-latency audio server, written for POSIX conformant operating systems such as GNU/Linux and Apple's OS X. It can connect a number of different applications to an audio device, as well as allowing them to share audio between themselves. Its clients can run in their own processes (ie. as normal applications), or can they can run within the JACK server."

Obviously, JACK must be that heart of how this application works. It must be muxing the audio from the Skype application into a standard SIP call using the RTP stream. Ironic, that since this requires JACK, this Skype to SIP gateway only runs on Linux - which is often the last operating system to get Skype updates. The software allows you to talk for 1 minute for free without registration. It costs $25 to register. A cool application you should try out.

Palringo is a very cool Instant Messaging program with push-to-talk VoIP functionality that runs on Windows Mobile phones, Symbian phones, and PCs. Palringo allows you to instantly exchange text, photos and vocal IMs with an individual contact or even a group.

The multiple platform support enables you to stay in touch with your contacts whether you are working at your PC or on the go with your mobile phone. Further, Palringo also lets you send photos, vocal messages and exchange text IMs with other IM systems such as AIM, Yahoo!, Google Talk, MSN Messenger, and more. Thus, its excellent IM interoperability ensures you can at least IM other popular IM programs.

The coolest feature in my humble opinion is the push-to-talk (PTT) feature, which lets you instantly VoIP your buddies like a walkie-talkie or a Nextel phone. You can also PTT a group as well, which I can see being very addictive for teenagers -- but also a useful feature for mobile sales teams. It doesn't use SIP and it leverages the open source Speex codec. They're currently working on a Java version, which will add even more supported devices.

It doesn't offer outbound or inbound PSTN connectivity - it's strictly an IM and PTT application, but hey, who's complaining? It's free after all. Go download your copy and check it out!

p.s. Here's some Symbian screenshots
  

Ironic that I just blogged about Logitech and Skype offering high quality video conferencing and I was skeptical it would work - except in the SMB - and now I just got a release saying SightSpeed can save SMBs thousands of dollars in video conferencing hardware. Well, I'm glad SightSpeed and I are on the same page.



SightSpeed, just like Skype offers high-quality VGA (640x480) resolution @30fps. Although SightSpeed Business is a $19.99 monthly fee and Skype video is free. However, SightSpeed supports up to 4 video participants where as Skype only does 1-to-1. There was a third-party add-on called Festoon that allowed up to 200 people for video conferencing. Unfortunately Festoon disappeared soon after Skype started offering video - leaving no multi-party video conferencing option for Skype. I should also mention that the $19.99/month also gives you 500 free U.S. and Canada telephone calling minutes to any landline or mobile phone, so there is certainly a lot of value in this offering.

If curious, here's the release that went out today showing how SightSpeed thinks their offering is a perfect fit for the SMB looking for high quality video conferencing at an affordable price:

SightSpeed Inc., the leading provider of Internet video communications, today unveiled a breakthrough business video conferencing service that enables all businesses – including small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) – to communicate and connect face-to-face with clients, customers, and colleagues without the need for expensive and immobile room-based hardware.

This new service, SightSpeed Business, combines the high resolution video quality of expensive, stationary room-based hardware systems with the ease of use, flexibility and mobility found in business-class Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services. Available for a fraction of the cost of existing video conferencing products ($19.95 per month and $189.95 per year), SightSpeed Business also eliminates the need for any separate IT investment.

“Existing room-based hardware video conferencing systems, which cost upwards of tens of thousands of dollars, are out of reach and impractical for all but a few privileged businesses,” said Peter Csathy, CEO of SightSpeed. “Those systems ignore the needs of the vast majority of potential video conferencing users. SightSpeed Business eliminates the requirement for costly hardware and places the needs of SMBs front and center, providing the first high quality, easy-to-use, cost effective and secure solution.”

With SightSpeed Business, users also have the flexibility and mobility for conducting a video conference anytime, anywhere – something that is impossible with room-based hardware systems. Since SightSpeed Business is installed on the user’s PC or Mac, face-to-face single click video communications with up to four users can occur anywhere a broadband connection can be found.

Key SightSpeed Business features include:

* Award-winning high quality video (including near high definition with 640x480 resolution cameras)
* Unlimited one-to-one video calling and unlimited and enhanced multi-party video conferencing for up to four participants
* A new streamlined interface optimized for the business user
* In-call collaboration features, including file sharing and multiple video screen viewing modes for better control over desktop view
* Unlimited video mail and video blogging (with extended recording time), and unlimited text messaging and PC-to-PC voice calling
* 500 free U.S. and Canada telephone calling minutes to any landline or mobile phone (and additional telephone “out” calling at competitive rates)
* Voice and video mail for incoming calls with e-mail notification
* Ability to record, publish and archive live video calls and conferences
* Administrative console for central user set up, management and reporting on an individual user and company-wide level, and simple purchase of call minutes, custom phone numbers and multi-user licenses
* Live, face-to-face video support and live toll-free phone support
* Secure, reliable and fully SIP/standards-based – enterprise-class architecture

“There is a need for enterprise-quality video communications solutions for the small and medium business,” said Rebecca Swensen, research analyst at IDC. “SightSpeed Business meets this need by providing quality video via a cost-effective service rather than a costly hardware solution. SightSpeed’s software as a service approach has the potential to disrupt the multi-billion dollar business video conferencing market in much the same way that Salesforce.com disrupted the CRM business.”

Skype and Logitech have teamed up to offer high quality videoconferencing. Skype 3.6 will be required and will increase the resolution from 320 x 240 to 640 x 480 (VGA). High Quality Video will also require Logitech QuickCam software, version 11.5. It will support up to 30 frames per second (fps) to people using a broadband connection. 384 kbps connection or higher is required and a PC with a dual-core processor to do the heavy processing of the video stream.

High Quality Video on Skype is available with the following premium Logitech webcams: the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000, the Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks and the Logitech QuickCam® Orbit AF (Logitech® QuickCam® Sphere AF in Europe).

According to the release, all three High Quality Video-certified webcams offer a Carl Zeiss lens and a very cool autofocus. Logitech’s autofocus system refocuses images in less than three seconds and helps ensure that images remain crisp even in extreme close-ups (up to 4 inches/10 cm from the camera lens).

For the office and the home, the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 comes with a flexible universal base, which allows it to rest comfortably on nearly any monitor. For the on-the-go professional, the Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks is sold with a protective travel case and an adjustable, spring-tension clip that accommodates even large laptops with panels up to 20 mm thick. The QuickCam Orbit AF webcam can cover 190 horizontal degrees and 100 vertical degrees of a room and offers a unique pan-and-tilt tracking technology.

So can Skype crack the high-end videoconferencing market? Should Microsoft Roundtable be worried or Polycom with their dedicated videoconferencing hardware? I'm not holding my breath. I still think hardware videoconferencing solutions are the way to go for businesses. Maybe SMBs that can't afford high-end video hardware might use Skype.

We all know the benefits of Asterisk, an open source IP-PBX software solution - so wouldn't open source hardware for the Asterisk platform be a natural extension? Yes, it would and in fact Asterisk fans have been hard at work in various DIY projects to build Asterisk-compatible hardware using standard off-the-shelf components.

One such popular project is uCasterisk (you-see-Asterisk), which is a set of scripts, makefiles and patches to build Asterisk for uClinux and targeting Blackfin hardware. uCasterisk is in the process of being deprecated in favor of Astfin. Astfin is the latest and greatest Blackfin uClinux Asterisk distribution. The project authors have used Buildroot to make the very complex embedded build process very simple. So I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email from Mark, one of the main players behind the Asfiin project.

Here's what he sent me:

On behalf of Astfin Team, I am proud to announce two new Open Source Hardware, Asterisk appliances based on Blackfin CPU.

PR1-Appliance:
ADSP-BF537 500/600MHz CPU
64-128MB SDRAM
256KB serial flash for the bootloader
1 Ethernet port with high performance PHY Single T1/E1 interface based on PEF2256 silicon SD card interface with a dedicated bus 256MB NAND flash for voicemail and prompts.
Optional, hardware based echo cancellation.
Astifn with Asterisk 1.4.x, Zaptel 1.4.x and Libpri 1.4.x
4 layer PCB

BR4-Appliance:
ADSP-BF537 500/600MHz CPU
64-128MB SDRAM
256KB serial flash for the bootloader
1 Ethernet port with high performance PHY Quad BRI based on Cologne silicon SD card interface with a dedicated bus 256MB NAND flash for voicemail and prompts.
Optional, hardware based echo cancellation.
Astifn with Asterisk 1.4.x, mISDN
4 layer PCB

At the same time I would like to reveal that we are working on 2 hardware based echo cancellation modules:
DSP based, with Ti C55xx and Open Source Code ASIC based, with a silicon from one of the most respected Telecom chip makers

Hardware designs are complete, and BR4-appliance prototype is already functional. The PR1-appliance prototyping will commence soon.

BR4 appliance hardware

For details and further updates please visit http://astfin.org and/or http://blog.astfin.org

All schematics are available for free under Mozilla or GPL license.

[end email]

All I have to say is wow, pretty cool! A Do It Yourself (DIY) Asterisk appliance - sounds like a fun hardware project. This is yet another Asterisk appliance option. Let me do a roll call of all the Asterisk appliances: (if I missed any let me know)


Asterisk Appliance (also OEM version - 3Com Asterisk Appliance)


trixbox appliance


PIKA Appliance for Asterisk


Magiclink Appliance

The 3 Skypephone has finally arrived, but only for our friends across the pond - the Brits. Although Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Macau and Sweden are planned sometime later in the year. What, no U.S.? Of course, 3 doesn't have a U.S. presence. Anyway, under UK-based 3's plan, Skype VoIP calls and IMs are free to any other Skype user, but alas SkypeOut calls to PSTN numbers will NOT work. Although, Skype and 3 claim SkypeOut will be added at a later day. We'll see...

The 3G Skypephone weighs just 85g and was made for 3 by Chinese manufacturer Amoi. Qualcomm was involved as well. The 3G phone includes a 2 megapixel camera, a microSD slot (up 1 gigabyte), and Bluetooth connectivity. It'll also play music of course. They are offering pay-as-you-go for £49.99 or you can get the phone for free if you agree to a monthly plan contract. Check out the video of it in action.

 

Just to update my post from on Friday about AOL's new AIM Call Out. I read an email from an AOL representative late on Friday confirming that AOL AIM Call Out is "not yet publicly announced" but that a public announcement would be made in the next couple weeks. According to AOL Technical Manager Gavin Murphy, "This is an outbound-only pay-as-you-go product used through the AIM 6.5 or later client. We provide competitive rates to over 200 countries. Also included is our WebConnect feature that allows you to bridge two PSTN phone numbers through an interface on the Dashboard. The Dashboard also provides lots of handy features like a Call Log with click-to-call capabilities, and access to your AIM Address Book contacts."

The bolded part above is interesting. It sounds exactly like Jajah, which is also what my source stated on Friday. It's unclear if they charge a fee for when you bridge two PSTN numbers. Considering Jajah offers free calls globally for bridged numbers, it would seem logical that AOL would also have to offer this for free in order to be competitive with Jajah.

So is this just another "me too" product or will AOL's huge base of AIM users give it the advantage it needs to finally crack into the VoIP space? Hard to say. It really depends on how easy it to use, how much it costs, and what is the business model. Certainly, if you already have AIM installed it's a lot easier than downloading a Jajah client or going to Jajah's website to initiate a phone call. But if you have to pay or listen to an advertisement then that will turn off users. If I find some time today I'll download AIM and try it. If anyone had tried it already or has AIM installed, try it and let me know how it goes.

And speaking of business models, this reminds me that I need to contact Jajah's Frederik Hermann and ask him what their business model is considering they offer free calls (with no ads either). Could be a loss leader to capture market share for now and then switch over to paid or ads, but that will probably just let someone else step in and offer free calls.

Jajah does offer paid services, but considering global calls (to many countries) are free when both call participants are registered as JAJAH users and the call was initiated on JAJAH Web, I would assume the vast majority of calls made on Jajah's network are "free" calls - but maybe not. But for these free calls, Jajah has to foot the bill.

Lastly, I'm curious if AOL built this or if they are OEMing it - perhaps from Jajah themselves!

Update: 5 min later
Looks like AOL is charging to bridge two numbers. This from AOL Call Out's website:

...go to your AIM Call Out dashboard, key in your number and the phone number of your friend. Your phone will ring and connect you to your friend’s phone. For Web Connect calls you’ll pay the rate for your friend’s country as well as your own. Before you dial, we’ll show you the total per minute rate for the call. I know… it sounds like it would be costly, but just compare!

Ok, showing how much the call WILL cost in the GUI is a neat idea, but remember what I said above? "it would seem logical that AOL would also have to offer this for free in order to be competitive with Jajah." I guess that would make AOL illogical. Reminds me of Spock in a few famous chess playing episodes:

Spock: Your illogical approach to chess does have its advantages on occasion, Captain.
Kirk: I prefer to call it inspired.
Spock: As you wish.

From Court Martial episode:
McCoy (on finding Spock playing chess while Captain Kirk is on trial for negligence):
"Mr. Spock, you're the most cold-blooded man I've ever known."
Spock: "Why, thank you, Doctor."


Trek trivia: Star Trek with its interesting take on logic vs. emotion postulated that Kirk's intuition beats Spock's logical style. In the two chess games we see them play against each other (Where No Man Has Gone Before, Charlie X) Spock loses both chess matches, and attributes his defeat to Kirk's illogical playing style.

Geodesic, makers of comprehensive mobile instant messaging products today announced Mundu IM for Pocket PC and select Sony Ericsson devices that works with AIM, MSN and Yahoo! IM services through a single chat window on Pocket PC, Sony Ericsson J2ME, Palm OS, Windows Mobile Smartphone and iPhone devices. It also supports ICQ, Google Talk and Jabber from a single user interface. People with popular phones such as the Sony Ericsson W300i and K550i, HTC Mogul, Samsung BlackJack, Motorola Q, Palm Treo 750, Palm 700p and the iPhone will find Mundu IM useful.

Mundu IM V4 features include:

• Photo blogging and video sharing - Instant sharing of photos and videos taken from camera phones to contacts across all popular IM services, making collaboration and social networking easier than ever.

• File and music sharing - Ability to send files and music on mobile devices to buddies.

• Email notification - Real-time email notifications for Yahoo, MSN and Google accounts.

• Support for major mobile platforms – Mundu IM now supports Pocket PC, Sony Ericsson J2ME devices, Palm OS and Windows Mobile Smartphone platforms – in addition to the Apple® iPhone and iPod touch.

Users can experience the full feature set of Mundu IM V4 by downloading a free 5 day trial version from http://messenger.mundu.com. $11.00 gives users lifetime access to Mundu IM with no per-message charge.

A reader informed me a few days ago about AOL AIM Call Out asking me for my feedback on the VoIP quality and features of this product. I told him:

I honestly haven't checked it out (AIM Call Out). AOL has had several starts & stops in VoIP (TotalTalk, Phoneline, etc). I'm not familiar with AIM Call Out. When did this launch?

I see no mention of it on Google.

I haven't used AIM in awhile, but doesn't AIM already have VoIP dialing capabilities? Is that what is now called AIM Call-Out?

Do all AIM users already have Call-Out capabilities with their current AIM client or do they have to go install a special version?

He responded back:

It looks like the calling abilities were built into the last update of AIM. So every AIM customer who has the latest AIM client has the ability to make calls using the product. The click to call feature uses a web dashboard type interface, sorta like Jajah. Haven't really tried it out yet though. I have no clue how long it has actually been out. Just got an email from a buddy at AOL telling me to try out the product. AIM had or maybe still does have AIM phoneline. I've made a few calls with AIM callout and was actually relatively impressed with the quality (call was to Abu Dhabi).

So it would appear that AOL has once again entered the VoIP arena with AIM Call Out which is a direct competitor to SkypeOut. This time it appears they're offering outbound calls to PSTN number only. I see no mention of inbound PSTN calls that AIM Phoneline supports.

In fact, I'm not sure what the difference is between AIM Phoneline and AIM Call Out except that AIM Phoneline supports inbound PSTN dialing. One other difference is that AIM Call Out is pay-as-you-go and AIM Phoneline offers a flat-rate unlimited calling plan.

It's late on Friday and I'm leaving to pick up Chinese, so I will report back over the weekend when I find out more information.

TMC's Greg Galitzine and Rich Tehrani wrote excellent articles (here & here) on NET (Network Equipment Technologies, Inc) acquiring Quintum, a maker of VoIP gateways. According to Greg's article, NET President and CEO Nicholas Keating, Jr. (no relation) remarked, “The acquisition of Quintum reflects NET’s strategy to broaden our VoIP product solutions. This will add further scale to our growing VoIP business and put us in a better position to address enterprise and government customer requirements. NET and Quintum share a common vision for the converged unified messaging and unified communications markets. Our technologies, product strategy and sales focus are highly complementary.”

I've always been impressed with Quintum's VoIP gateways and wrote a couple reviews on their Tenor product line. Quintum sells VoIP gateways for Microsoft’s Unified Communications solutions, including being a Certified Partner for Office Communications Server 2007. NET has partnered with Microsoft and Unisys to provide voice integration into hosted exchange environments. This TMC Labs review snippet I wrote back in 2003 sums up the technology NET is acquiring with this acquisition:

All things being equal, TMC Labs found that Quintum can “squeeze” more voice conversations into a given T1 circuit than many competing products. The reason is their “PacketSaver” technology, which combines voice packets from several calls into one IP packet by maximizing the data utilization of the packet, which often has unused overhead space. Essentially, the way it works is that PacketSaver multiplexes multiple individual VoIP sessions into consolidated IP packets, thereby maximizing the utilization of the IP packet. By reducing the IP packet overhead you can reduce the total amount of bandwidth needed to support VoIP calls. As a side effect, because PacketSaver reduces the total number of packets used for VoIP traffic, it also reduces the chances of packet loss -- another factor that can affect voice quality.

In addition to this unique “PacketSaver” technology, Quintum also is unique in its ability to intelligently switch calls from VoIP to a PSTN line if jitter, latency or packet loss reaches a certain threshold. This happens completely transparently to the caller. All the caller may hear is brief period of silence while the call is switched from IP to PSTN. We tested this functionality on several of Quintum’s past and present products and it works quite well. This helps alleviate “quality of service” concerns that customers may have in purchasing a VoIP gateway.

You can check out my full review here. Rich Tehrani got some quotes from Quintum's VP of Marketing, Chuck Rutledge, who I have also talked to in the past and Chuck helped put this acquisition into perspective, so go check out Rich's article.

Microsoft just announed a monster quarter, pulling in $13.76 billion in revenue - a 27 percent jump over the same quarter last year. This is a a net income of $4.29 billion, making it "the fastest revenue growth of any first quarter since 1999". On the earnings call they revealed that Microsoft has achieved more than 20 percent growth in Vista sales for three quarters in a row. I guess people aren't necessarily sticking with Windows XP or downgrading from Vista to XP.

Also, they sold 1.8 million XBox 360s this quarter, which is a 90 percent increase over the same quarter last year, much of which is attributed to the August price cut and Halo 3 purchases. Their XBox division generated $1.9 billion in sales, including $330 million from Halo 3. With all the positive news surrounding Apple and their surprising resurgence over the past few years, for once Microsoft is surprising the analysts. Microsoft is projecting revenue of $58.8 billion to $59.7 billion making the $240 million they invested in Facebook look like chump change.