Q: Your returns as a category. Is there any No. 1 reason for a return?
A: There are no systematic issues. The vast majority of the people just love the product, have a great experience with it. When there is an issue, we get on it and address it as quickly as possible.

Q: What explains this anecdotal evidence that it’s out of whack, compared to the Wii or the PlayStation 3 or other consoles?
A: I would go back and say the vast majority of people love their experience. We continue to go back and address all of these issues on a case-by-case basis. There is a vocal minority out there. We go off and try to address their issues as quickly and as pain-free as possible.

–Excerpt from a San Jose Mercury News interview with Todd Holmdahl, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Gaming and Xbox Products Group.

Microsoft choked down a big plate of crow this morning, acknowledging widespread reports of Xbox 360 failures and offering full repairs for the most widely reported console malfunction, the so-called red ring of death.

“The majority of Xbox 360 owners are having a great experience with their console and have from day one,” Robbie Bach, Microsoft’s president of Entertainment and Devices, said in a statement. “But, this problem has caused frustration for some of our customers and for that, we sincerely apologize.”

“Some” of your customers? Try a third to as many as half. Because that’s what the size of the $1.15 billion anticipated repair bill Microsoft put forth today would seem to imply and anecdotal reports have already suggested that “some” may be a number as large as 33%.

And frankly, that’s not hard to believe given tales of Xbox 360 woe such as this one from gamer Rob Cassingham, who had six consoles fail on him. “The first machine I had was the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972,” he told the San Jose Mercury News. “I have never had to send any of them back. The gaming experience has been wonderful. And Xbox Live is great. But the reliability of this thing. … I had six machines, and seven (counting one replacement) crapped out. That’s not OK. If I had 100 machines and seven crapped out, that’s OK.”