Microsoft Corp Chairman Bill Gates said on Thursday that the software giant is ready to ship 250,000 units of its new Xbox video game machine at Friday's crucial debut in the tough Japanese gaming market. But in a later interview with Reuters, Gates also said that it would be difficult to stage a repeat of its strong U.S. debut in November, which resulted in sales of 1.5 million units in just six weeks. "This is not the Christmas season. You shouldn't compare us to numbers like that," he said. "As we get into next December we should be able to deliver good numbers." "We have 250,000 units here in the market and we'll be shipping more as we ramp up production," he told an earlier news conference. Up to now, Microsoft had kept silent on its initial allotment.
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