40% of U.S. PS3 owners: "This thing has Blu-ray?"

[matt57]

Originally Posted by peter99

I wonder why the very stupit people still can be a live.

PLEASE OH PLEASE BE SARCASM......that's rich right there...

[Monkeykong2215]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

No it's not. Never underestimate the stupidity of the general public

Seriously, something like 60% of end users never even crack the manual, on anything.

I seriously don't not believe that story at all. I have to say that 70% of the people own a PS3 are hardcore gamers, as a hordcore gamer and tech fanatic I know what my PS3 can do with out opening the manual. The other 30% is starting to learn. Plus when you buy a PS3 the blue-ray label is on the box.

[Smackos]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

It is for this exact reason that I've been saying, ever since the Blu-ray drive inclusion was announced, that Sony should have been including a Blu-ray demo disc in every box! How better to advertise the new format than by having EVERYONE IN POSSESSION OF THE HARDWARE look at a Blu-ray disc case and say, "Hmmm, I wonder what this is? Let me pop it in and find out!" A simple 5 minute video explaining what the Blu-ray drive is capable of would have blown those statistics to the other end of the spectrum.

Hell, even a standard DVD would have blown the numbers through the roof!

I'd actually go one further, maybe include a film on Blu-ray that can be swapped back and forth from HD to SD to highlight the diferences between normal DVD and Blu-ray film. Also they should put a few info flyers in the box to show the studio support and of the latest cinema releases which will be coming to Blu-ray..

[Proteus]

Sony has done a phenomenally terrible job of marketing the PS3. That's really all there is to it.

Back in my Business Law days we used to use the term O.R.P.I. (Ordinarily Reasonably Prudent Individuals) all the time to help describe the steps you would have to take to protect yourself from tort based civil cases. Well, here is the dose of reality for those who are here and clearly can read... O.R.P.I.'s _can not_ read. Yep, that's right. To protect yourself you must assume that anyone your product touches is incapable of reading any warnings or information. You would not believe the numbers of people in the U.S. that are illiterate yet still buy PS3's and other fine products.

As a marketer, I like to apply it to all my campaigns as well. Basically, make your ads 'speak' to the customer without requiring them to read or for that matter speak a certain language. It's very challenging but very effective, particularly globally.

Sony dropped the ball on this big time. I would bet that the people who know about it's Blu-ray capabilities are the 200,000, or whatever, that got Talledega Nights free with their unit inclusive.

The above poster is right. Sony should have a Blu-ray sampler that is visually oriented included in the box. Big time. I would suggest one step further myself actually... Put free Blu-ray samplers all over the place at retailers that use the word 'Playstation' really big every where and show _pictures_ of the unit really big as well so people get the free sampler (anyone can read 'free', funny how that works) and suddenly understand what their system is capable of. Should have been an instruction and welcome/introduction BD in the box with the unit for sure though.

[Canada]

I don't know how you can not know your PS3 is a Blu Ray player, that was practically the reason I got the console oops I mean Blu Ray player.

[Canada]

I agree whol heartedly with Proteous the should put a writing in big letters can Play Blu Ray movies on your PS3.

[What'sHD]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

Fun with numbers:

Let's assume the article is true.

1.5 million * .6 = 900K BD knowledgable PS/3 users.

So, we ask, if the disc sales ratio is 2:1 and we assume PS/3 are equally likely to buy discs as standalone users, of either format, what is the effective PS/3 usage rate?

300K HD DVD x 2 = 600K equivalent BD users.

Say 100K are stand-alone.

500K equivalent BD users of 900K that know they have a BD player.

5/9 = 56% usage.

I agree, Gary. This is great news, if true.

If the 60% who are aware are helping BD win every week, the other 40% can help extend the win-margins.

If the 40% who are BD-uninformed have a more conservative (say 40% instead of 56%, due to lower attach etc.) effective-usage than the 60% who are BD-aware, that adds another 1.5 * .4 * .4 = 240K equivalent BD players. Sweet!

With 240K more players, the weekly ratio can jump to 2.8 easy, without any major effort on BDA's part. Think about it, 74 to 26 instead of 67 to 33.

We should help educate the uninformed PS3 owners, if we find any. I am trying to do my bit, at work and amongst friends.

The bad news here is that it shows, if true, that Sony's marketing vis a vis PS3's BD playback is well short of the mark.