Alba readying cut-price Blu-ray Disc player for Europe?

[eat_me_cool]

Original URL: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/11...eap_bd_player/

By Tony Smith
Published Tuesday 27th November 2007 11:14 GMT

Are low-cost Blu-ray Disc players coming to Europe in the near future? They are if claims that local consumer electronics company Alba has ordered 4000 players a month from January are to be believed.

Chinese-language newspapers Commercial Times and Economic Daily News today quote the head of Chinese manufacturer Forworld Electronics as saying his firm will be supplying Alba with said number of Blu-ray Players early next year.

Alba releases kit over here under its own name, but also under the Goodmans, Grundig and Bush brands, all pitched between the budget end of the market and the mainstream. That suggests Alba's Blu-ray machine, under whichever brand it's released, is likely to be priced at a rather more affordable level than dedicated BD player have been to date.

Indeed, so far, the most affordable Blu-ray player has been Sony's PlayStation 3 rather than a standalone player.

By contrast, a fair few cut-price HD DVD players are on the market right now, most of them first-generation Toshiba machines like the HD-E1, which can be found online for around £190.

The Venturer SHD7000, launched in Europe last September as the first sub-£200 HD DVD player (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/09...cheap_hd_dvd/), hasn't yet materialised in the UK, though it is on sale in US Target stores for $249 (£120).

[NutsAboutPS3]

4000 players a month is nothing, but the most interesting aspect is that the manufacturer could presumably supply more than this to companies other than Alba who would then apply their own rebranding, i.e. we now have a source of cheap Chinese made Blu-ray players. kjack has mentioned working with Chinese manufacturers in the past, perhaps this is the first sign of his work coming to fruition?

[Bullseye]

Its a start. If Alba was to also release similar numbers under their other brands this could increase to 16,000 a month.

[tiger roach]

This is a new field for her, isn't it?

[mattym]

Originally Posted by tiger roach

This is a new field for her, isn't it?

*s*******

[itsfatboy]

This is exactly whats required.

The big guns (Sony, Samsung, Pioneer) will never lower their prices, they're still trying to recoup their ROI. They can afford the lost sales to these chinese players, to help broaden the exposure of BR in the market. Without the cheap players, the big guns will die on the vine.

Its how VHS won the war over the better technology Beta.

[eat_me_cool]

I think sales volumes in the EU are small anyway. The cancelled Onkyo HD-DVD player had initial shipment figures of 20 to Germany for instance. The PS3 is such a bargain that neither format HD players are probably selling very much at present.

[jayd]

I expect to see these at around the £180-200 mark, not really any more as they are not a company to sell at very high prices. You can get one of thier DVD players for £20.00 not far from where I live. Excellent news, and another CE for Blu-Ray.

[WriteSimply]

Another report, this time from Digitimes. For the actual link, click here.

Originally Posted by Digitimes

Forworld Electronics (formerly Fuh Yuan Electronic Development) has landed ODM orders for Blu-ray Disc (BD) players from Alba, a leading distributor of consumer electronics in Europe, with monthly shipments of 4,000 units initially to begin in January 2008, according to company president Hung-chi Teng as cited by the Chinese-language Commercial Times and Economic Daily News (EDN).

Forworld has signed an agreement with Sony to supply BD loaders, a core part of BD players, and Forworld will undertake assembly of the loader and other components, the Commercial Times cited Teng as saying. Forworld received the orders during the IFA 2007 Consumer Electronics trade show in Berlin, Germany during late August-early September, the EDN pointed out.

In addition, Forworld recently received an order for 100,000 HD DVD-ROM drives at US$57 a drive from OVK Optics Technology in southern China, with shipments to begin in April 2008, according to the Commercial Times.

For an April delivery plus at least two months lead time for shipping and marketing, that means another "competition" from Toshiba may be coming soon. But I wonder what the price will be for those players.


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