Analysts peg PS3 as new format war winner

[Shin-Ra]

Sony shares surge on HD DVD demise

William Blair & Company analyst Ralph Shackart said that, "We believe Blu-ray's victory could drive market share gains for the PS3, as we believe consumers will now be more willing to pay up (versus 360) for the standard Blu-ray player."

Wedbush Morgan Securities' Michael Pachter told GameSpot that he agreed. He said, "Educated consumers who have been holding off buying on the format war to make a decision will now probably buy a PS3. Uneducated consumers who have no idea that there was a format war are likely to get pushed to buy a PS3 by sales clerks. Retail sales clerks being what they are, they are now really, really going to push sales of Blu-ray, and therefore the PS3."

"The real problem for the 360 is that very few people will buy a 360 and a PS3. So therefore, every PS3 sale will likely mean that person won't buy a 360, so this news will ultimately hurt 360 sales. But I don't think it will hurt the Wii. If I had to bet, I'd say Microsoft gets no more than 30 percent of the total install base, and Sony and Microsoft slug it out, and Sony will ultimately prevail."

Not sure if the first or last 'Microsoft' in that last sentence is supposed to say Nintendo. Doesn't make sense to me otherwise.

Haven't got the quote here but Pachter doesn't expect Microsoft to support Blu-ray through an add-on or integrated Blu-ray drive.