Friday, November 30, 2007

Latest weapon in standards war--price cuts

We have beeen following the standards war between Blu-ray and HD DVD (Will this standards war become a quaqmire? and DVD war drags on). They had been fighting the war by trying to convince movie studios to put out movies only in one format.

But now, the Wall St. Journal reports that they are both trying price cuts.

Wal-Mart surprised industry observers by taking an additional $100 off in a 48-hour sale, triggering other retailers to match the price. The players sold out in minutes at some Wal-Mart stores. According to DisplaySearch, Toshiba sold 90,000 to 100,000 players in just two days. ...

But makers of Blu-ray players are coming up with their own price cuts. After lowering its price on an existing Blu-ray player by $100 to $399 last Sunday, Sony, the lead manufacturer in the Blu-ray camp, said Best Buy customers could get an additional $100 gift certificate ...

Who is winning the war?
households with stand-alone HD DVD players will total 600,000 and households with stand-alone Blu-ray players will total 400,000.

1 comment:

  1. If you add the number of Sony PS3s Sold * percentage that use it as a movie player, then there are far more Blu-Ray players out there. The HD-DVD camp wants journalists to only look at stand alone player count.

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