Rant: Why manufacturers don't need to "give away" BD players

[BadAss]

I agree with the OP to a certain extent that for HDM to exist it needs not only to be a viable business for CE companies to make profit but also to be seen as value for money for consumers.

The BDA need to set a base line for pricing their players at no more that twice the price of the lowest priced HD-DVD player, which I think they are doing. If HD-DVD sets its base line at $199 then the BDA should be at $399.

But what Toshiba has done is give away 90,000 players over night and these sales seem to be reflecting in the software sales charts. What would have been 75:25 last week was only 65:35 and this is the measurement of what market share each format has.

IMO all those CE companies with 1.0 players should slash their player prices to $199 to out manouver HD-DVD over the final weeks of 2007. Then when all 1.0 players are gone contuinue the fight with a clean slate in 2008 with 1.1 models at $399-499 backed with all those interactive features HD-DVD tauts as their advantage.

Unless the BDA are supreamly confident WB going Blu-ray exclusive I think this is the best course of action.