Blu-ray players were much less popular than HD DVD players in the US, but once HD DVD quit the market, it seemed likely that Blu-ray would benefit. It hasn't quite turned out that way, according to US market tracker NPD Group. The company says:
Standalone Blu-ray player unit sales dropped 40% from January to February in the US and only saw a 2% increase from February to March, according to NPD's Retail Tracking Service. HD DVD player unit sales dropped 13% from January to February, but as production stopped and inventories dried up, sales spiraled down 65% from February to March. . "That standalone Blu-ray players haven't picked up significantly from HD DVD's loss shows that few consumers were dissuaded primarily by the 'format war'," said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis, NPD. "When we surveyed consumers late last year, an overwhelming number of them said they weren't investing in a new next-generation player because their old DVD player worked well and next-generation players were too expensive. It's clear from retail sales that those consumer sentiments are still holding true."
What are consumers buying instead? One answer is up-converting DVD players. Unit sales of those grew by 5% (comparing Q1 2008 with Q1 2007), while sales of ordinary DVD players fell by 39%.
Upscaling DVD players can provide very good results at a much lower cost, and of course, there's loads of cheap content available.
At the moment, the Blu-ray movie industry depends on sales of heavily-subsidised Sony PlayStation 3 games consoles, where users have a bundled Blu-ray drive whether they want one or not. And regardless of whether they will actually use it to play movies.
Of course, new formats always take a while to get going. Are you planning to buy a Blu-ray player within the next year, in two years, five years, or never?
