The sad state of Blu-ray: Despite much hype and (finally) shrinking price tags, last decade's technology is still winning.
NYT: The Consumer Electronics Association predicts that North American consumers will spend $1.3 billion on Blu-ray players in 2009, outpacing the projected $1.2 billion that will be spent on regular DVD players, although Blu-ray players are two to three times more expensive.
That means that DVD players -- which many of us have spares of, collecting dust in closets -- will still significantly outsell Blu-ray players this year.
The question: Whether Blu-ray player unit sales will ever outpace DVD player sales, or whether via cable and gadgets like Netflix-capable TVs, consumers will favor Internet-based movie consumption instead.
Telling: Even Sony (SNE) is starting to think about life after/instead of Blu-ray -- it's advertising its PlayStation3 as a "movie downloading machine" -- instead of as a Blu-ray player.
See Also:
Blu-ray, Cut Prices Or You're Toast
DVD Sales Down, Blu-ray Trends 'Encouraging'
Blu-Ray Players Finally Cheap. Will Anyone Care?