Strategy Analytics: 29 million Blu-ray homes worldwide expected this year

[Grubert]

Link

The Blu-ray Disc victory in its recent format war with HD-DVD will propel this technology into 29.4 million homes worldwide by the end of 2008, according to the latest research published by the Strategy Analytics Connected Home Devices service. According to, “Blu-ray Devices: Forecasting Sales and Ownership,” Sony’s PS3 games console will continue to drive the Blu-ray market until 2009, after which stand-alone Blu-ray players will become the dominant segment. By 2012 more than 132 million homes worldwide will own at least one Blu-ray device.

“HD-DVD’s withdrawal leaves the way open for Blu-ray to become a major revenue earner for technology vendors and content owners alike,” says David Mercer, Principal Analyst. “The 265 million homes that will own an HDTV by 2012, and Hollywood’s need for a new growth engine, represent huge incentives for the industry to coordinate marketing activities and demonstrate unified support for the successor to DVD.”

This Strategy Analytics report predicts that global sales of Blu-ray devices will reach 18.8 million units in 2008, including 4 million stand-alone players, 13 million consoles and nearly 2 million PCs. By 2012, annual sales of all BD devices will reach 57.4 million units. The largest market will be in Europe, with 26.4 million, followed by the US (22.6 million) and Japan (8.4 million).

[Elandyll]

According to Swanni

http://www.tvpredictions.com/blustudy032608.htm

Study: 29M Blu-ray Homes Worldwide In 2008
Strategy Analytics says Play Station 3 consoles will drive sales.
By Swanni

Washington, D.C. (March 26, 2008) -- Blu-ray players will be in 29.4 million homes worldwide by the end of 2008.

That's the conclusion of a new research study from the London-based Strategy Analytics.

The company says that with HD DVD exiting the high-def disc format war, Blu-ray sales should soar in the coming months. (Toshiba is pulling the plug on HD DVD at the end of this month.)

Sony's Play Station 3, which has a Blu-ray player inside, will drive more interest in the technology, the company concludes.

"Sony’s PS3 games console will continue to drive the Blu-ray market until 2009, after which stand-alone Blu-ray players will become the dominant segment," Strategy Analytics said in a statement.

The company added that 132 million homes worldwide will have at least one Blu-ray device by 2012.“HD-DVD’s withdrawal leaves the way open for Blu-ray to become a major revenue earner for technology vendors and content owners alike,” says David Mercer, Strategy Analytics' principal analyst. “The 265 million homes that will own an HDTV by 2012, and Hollywood’s need for a new growth engine, represent huge incentives for the industry to coordinate marketing activities and demonstrate unified support for the successor to DVD.”

The research firm said 18.8 million Blu-ray devices will be sold worldwide this year, including four million standalone players, 13 million game consoles and nearly two million PCs.

By 2012, it estimates that 57.4 million Blu-ray devices will be sold annually, with 26.4 million sold in Europe and 22.6 million in the United States.

[Blu Titan]

More good news. For what is worth, Swanni has been on top of all the Blu-ray predictions.

[Clark Kent]

The Strategy Analytics estimate looks very reasonable given market factors. I think most analysts are redoing their PS3 sales estimates due to a number of positive moves for the console, the least of which is that HD DVD is completely gone from the market. I do thank Toshiba for pulling out when they did, though I realize they pulled out mostly because that division was bleeding money fast.

[PaulGo]

If Blu-ray players come down in price to the $150 to $100 (or less) level I can see it replacing DVD as the standard format. By 2012 about 90% of the population will have HD Televisions and their will be a strong demand for HD media.