Why Everyone Will Own a Blu-ray Player By Phillip Swann TVPredictions.com
http://www.tvpredictions.com/bludvd012710.htm Washington, D.C. (January 27, 2010) -- Research firm InStat just issued a study saying that unit Blu-ray player sales will still trail DVD players in the year 2013. Wrong. Why do I say that? Because I predict that in the next 18 months, some CE companies will stop making DVD players. That's right. And by the year 2013, many stores will only carry Blu-ray players; no DVD players at all. Crazy, you say. The world is going Blu. Okay, I know that roughly two-thirds of Americans own DVD players -- and huge libraries of standard-def discs. So it might seem, yes, crazy, for CE companies to stop making DVD equipment to serve this audience. But don't forget that the Blu-ray set-top plays both Blu-ray high-def discs and standard-def DVDs. So if you're still a DVD fan in the year 2013 -- and you need a new player -- that new Blu-ray player will work just fine. Many Blu-ray players will be available for under $100 so consumers will have no problem making the switch from the inexpensive DVD player to an inexpensive Blu-ray player. But why will CE companies want to stop making DVD players? While sub-$100 Blu-ray players will be available, the average Blu-ray player will still cost more than today's DVD player by the year 2013. So the CE companies will make more money if they only sell Blu-ray players. Additionally, many electronics companies will be pushing hard to get consumers to buy new 3-D Blu-ray players. That task will be easier if there are only Blu-ray players on the market. And what about DVDs? Will they go away, too? I think the studios will keep making DVDs a bit longer after the CE companies stop making DVD players. However, it won't be long -- perhaps in the next 12-18 months -- that the studios will begin releasing some movies only on Blu-ray to encourage consumers to switch formats. (By the way, the studios, of course, will be fully behind the CE industry's decision to stop making DVD players for similar reasons -- they will make more money selling more expensive Blu-ray discs; they will get more consumers to upgrade their disc collections to Blu-ray; and they might get more people to consider 3-D Blu-ray discs.) Note: While InStat says unit Blu-ray player sales will still trail unit DVD player sales in 2013, the research firm says Blu-ray player revenue will be four times higher because of the format's higher price tag. -- ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 Mail: antunes at uh dot edu *********************************** * POST TO [email protected] * *********************************** Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
