A lot about how things play out in the HD DVD and Blu-ray format war are just plain common sense. One need only refer to other competitions in the consumer electronics marketplace to see how history is repeating itself with the next-gen DVD formats. This week’s edition of Business Week has a great analysis that echoes themes and ideas presented here in past articles:
- Sales figures are too inconclusive to say that one side is doing better than the other, and retailers will need to keep supporting both formats for quite a while.
- Not counting PS3 sales, Blu-ray player sales are behind those of HD DVD players, and sales of HD DVD players have dramatically increased in the last couple of months.
An interesting tid-bit in that article is about Toshiba’s efforts to invite Chinese manufacturers to the HD DVD party. In recent months, there had been news about WalMart possibly bringing out a $199 or $299 HD DVD player later in the year from one of these manufacturers. That deal was since denied, but I’m predicting that we’re likely to see a bunch of inexpensive HD DVD players as 2008 starts in another five or six months. That’s the kind of pricing strategy that will ensure HD DVD a solid footing on retail shelves for quite a long time. And it’s another good reason for you to get off that fence and get in on the HD DVD action now.
By the way, you don’t have to wait until 2008 for a $199-$299 HD DVD player, because players are already selling in that price neighborhood right now
