After Oprah’s giveaway of Microsoft’s new Xbox 360 Kinect kit, a video game platform, to each member of her audience at the beginning of October, Amazon reported a 42% increase in pre-orders for this product. This again demonstrated the impact media has on people and the brand image of Oprah that can manipulate large numbers of viewers, convincing them into buying products that don’t meet their needs or interests.

Microsoft Kinect, as well as it’s doing on its own, won’t hurt from a tiny Oprah mention.  But the recent buzz that’s been going on around the system may be for not, should Microsoft not have planned well for the upcoming holiday shopping season.  Hopefully that’s not the case, as Microsoft’s been gearing up for a massive marketing push around Kinect, which clearly includes the great endorser herself.

In all, Microsoft’s not doing so badly for itself.  The company has reported high earnings for Q3, with a 25% increase in sales from the same period last year.  There’s a number of areas in which Microsoft is looking to gain or regain footing, with its Windows Phone 7 mobile initiative being of particular importance for the software giant.