The "Red Ring Of Death" may be glowing around Microsoft (MSFT), so is it going to penetrate the technology-oriented exchange traded funds (ETFs) as well?
More than 18 million Xbox 360’s have sold since their launch in November 2005. According to various warranty supporters, 16% of these have experienced failure within 6-10 months of the warranty purchase.
Mike Smith on Yahoo! Games reports that three out of every five failures were because of the "Red Ring Of Death": a general hardware failure error associated with overheating.
Squaretrade, a company that offers warranty support to purchasers of electronic goods, says it’s safe to assume a good deal of warranties went straight back to Microsoft, with failure rates certain to go up as the product within the study group gets older. The failure rate is estimated around 3%, while some gamers are predicting in the neighborhood of 30-40%.
Look if there is red ring around your ETF:
- iShares Dow Jones US Technology (IYW): Microsoft is 13.7%
- Vanguard Information Technology (VGT): holds 9.2%
- iShares S&P GTSI Technology (IGM): holds 9.33%
The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.