Some observations on the Sony BDP-S300 price

[hantrooper]

Ive been a long time viewer of blu-ray.com and supporter, first time signing up because i felt like i should share something with the HD community and help some people make a decision if they havn't picked a format yet

i work at a futureshop in toronto (owner by bestbuy for all you US people) and we just got the new BDP-S300 in stock

now as im sure you are all aware, this format war has been reduced to a price war, who has the most to loose short term for the long term game.

when the toshiba hda2 came out, the cost for us was about $440 canadian, with a retail price of $600... the various sales we have temporarily lower the cost for futureshop, but for the most part its been around that.
The more costly 1080p hda20 retails now for $600 (same as the BDP-S300) with a cost not much off that, as toshiba has been furiously trying to be the low cost provider of HD players, and use it as a marketing edge

as everyone is now aware, the BDP-S300 has just launched, with a price point of $600 canadian, and sony being known for their terrible margins usually leave us with no room for negotiating...

today i sold a brand new BDP-S300 for $450 to a loyal customer, with a 10% margin... sony's cost on their new player is at a measly $410, which means a bunch of things;

1) there will be sales run by retailers, they have the margin to do it without loosing much profit

2) price cuts are easily and immediately available as an option to both sony and the retailers without sony having to sell their units cheaper to retailers to promote themselves (as sony often does with us to include free stands, sound systems etc)

3) if the market calls for it, sony can do what toshiba is currently doing to promote itself by selling the units to retailers at a lower cost, as we did when we had a sale on last week for the HDA2 for $350 (cost was again just under that for the week) sony can easily match that, but with a 1080p model

the advantage sony has is growing, and even with a cheap $600 unit, they still have room to move and react with toshiba without loosing as much money as toshiba is




I hope this provides some insight into where things will go, if you have any questions about cost and promotions let me know, i will be happy to give any information i have