Sony bullish on Blu-ray dominance

[PaulGo]

Sony bullish on Blu-ray dominance
By James Sherwood
7th April 2008 12:52 GMT

Sony wants to own 50 per cent of the Blu-ray Disc hardware market by the end of the year, according to a company executive.

Ryoji Chubachi, President and electronics CEO at Sony, made the bold statement during a recent press conference in Taipei, according to a DigiTimes report.

Chubachi claimed that Sony already has 20 per cent of the market. But he aims to boost Sony’s share by 30 per cent through the introduction of more Blu-ray enabled products, such as HD TVs with integrated BD recorders.

The executive also said Sony will extend its focus from Blu-ray players and recorders and the PlayStation 3 out to unnamed IT devices - though the company already offers Vaio PCs with built-in BD drives.

Given the recent death of HD DVD, it’s no surprise that Sony’s predicting such a sharp upturn in consumer interest for Blu-ray. One analyst firm has already forecast that 29.4m homes around the world will own a BD player by the end of 2008, with the vast majority expected to be PS3s.

If Sony wants to beef up sales of standalone Blu-ray players then it still has some way to go. A recent study found that although 56 per cent of Brits, aged between 18 and 54, are aware of the HD format - only nine per cent have actually already bought a Blu-ray player.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04..._bluray_sales/

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by PaulGo

Sony bullish on Blu-ray dominance
By James Sherwood
7th April 2008 12:52 GMT

Sony wants to own 50 per cent of the Blu-ray Disc hardware market by the end of the year, according to a company executive.

Ryoji Chubachi, President and electronics CEO at Sony, made the bold statement during a recent press conference in Taipei, according to a DigiTimes report.

Chubachi claimed that Sony already has 20 per cent of the market. But he aims to boost Sony’s share by 30 per cent through the introduction of more Blu-ray enabled products, such as HD TVs with integrated BD recorders.

The executive also said Sony will extend its focus from Blu-ray players and recorders and the PlayStation 3 out to unnamed IT devices - though the company already offers Vaio PCs with built-in BD drives.

Given the recent death of HD DVD, it’s no surprise that Sony’s predicting such a sharp upturn in consumer interest for Blu-ray. One analyst firm has already forecast that 29.4m homes around the world will own a BD player by the end of 2008, with the vast majority expected to be PS3s.

If Sony wants to beef up sales of standalone Blu-ray players then it still has some way to go. A recent study found that although 56 per cent of Brits, aged between 18 and 54, are aware of the HD format - only nine per cent have actually already bought a Blu-ray player.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04..._bluray_sales/

Sounds ggod to me. Sony is putting its $$$ where it matters: The promotion and development of the Blu-ray format.

[Terjyn]

I love Blu-Ray, but I think Sony is in dreamland if it wants 50% by the end of the year.

That's a stretch goal at best, not what should be expected as the norm.

[CptGreedle]

eh.. just internal biz stuff. I could care less if they have 15% or 50%... just as long as they keep pumping money, effort, and quality into Blu-ray!

[The Don]

Originally Posted by Terjyn

I love Blu-Ray, but I think Sony is in dreamland if it wants 50% by the end of the year.

That's a stretch goal at best, not what should be expected as the norm.

I disagree....

wait until you see the deals that will be available come 4Q...not to mention what we have in store the next 4-5 months with the PS3 alone....

Sony has been bullish on Blu-ray for quite some time and they are just upping the ante...

[mdm1699]

Originally Posted by The Don

I disagree....

wait until you see the deals that will be available come 4Q...not to mention what we have in store the next 4-5 months with the PS3 alone....

Sony has been bullish on Blu-ray for quite some time and they are just upping the ante...

I was about to say the same. I am not sure why it is unrealistic with stand-alones so pricey. Adding a blu-ray player/recorder to their lcds should only result in a reasonable incremental price increase. No additional marketing, packaging. Shared hardware. Also saves on cosmetic components. Acually, this is a great idea. LCDS/Plasmas already have digital tuners built-in. Hardrive later? Hmmm.

[RazorFromHRSnet]

Originally Posted by Terjyn

I love Blu-Ray, but I think Sony is in dreamland if it wants 50% by the end of the year.

That's a stretch goal at best, not what should be expected as the norm.

I think it's pretty reasonable that they could own 50% of the bluray market for the year. They're not saying BD will be half the home video market, just out of all the BluRay out there, 50% of it will be Sony. I'm surprised they're not alread at 50% or higher just on PS3 alone.

[Icemage]

Originally Posted by RazorFromHRSnet

I think it's pretty reasonable that they could own 50% of the bluray market for the year. They're not saying BD will be half the home video market, just out of all the BluRay out there, 50% of it will be Sony. I'm surprised they're not alread at 50% or higher just on PS3 alone.

Sony controls probably 90% of the Blu-ray market if the PS3 is counted in with the standalones.

In context, I think they're talking about non-console hardware, and that's one area where Samsung has made a lot of progress on with their BDP1400 (however flaky that unit might be due to firmware fiascos).

[dialog_gvf]

Fun with math:

Chubachi claimed that Sony already has 20 per cent of the market. But he aims to boost Sony’s share by 30 per cent through the introduction of more Blu-ray enabled products, such as HD TVs with integrated BD recorders.

Boosting current market share by 30% means to 26% (20% + 30% of 20), not 50%.

Gary

[patrick99]

That article is just incredibly confused. Is the subject Sony's share of the BD market, or BD versus SD DVD?

[ranma]

Share of BD market I believe.

[JimPullan]

I digest these comments from a perspective of a dealer for Sony, and I see nothing but service related nightmares, combining a HDTV with an internal Blu-ray player/recorder. If there is a major malfunction with the player/recorder, the consumer ends up loosing their entire entertainment during the repair process. Also, we dealers have what's called Transition Charts, showing all the products Sony will be releasing from May 2008 through the end of the year, and there is nothing indicating an introduction of a combined HDTV with an internal Blu-ray. I will chat with our Sony Distributor (we buy direct) and see if there is something occuring we dealers are unaware of, then I'll let the Forum know if anything is going on. Fair enough? [Jim]

Originally Posted by mdm1699

I was about to say the same. I am not sure why it is unrealistic with stand-alones so pricey. Adding a blu-ray player/recorder to their lcds should only result in a reasonable incremental price increase. No additional marketing, packaging. Shared hardware. Also saves on cosmetic components. Acually, this is a great idea. LCDS/Plasmas already have digital tuners built-in. Hardrive later? Hmmm.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by Icemage

Sony controls probably 90% of the Blu-ray market if the PS3 is counted in with the standalones.

In context, I think they're talking about non-console hardware, and that's one area where Samsung has made a lot of progress on with their BDP1400 (however flaky that unit might be due to firmware fiascos).

I was going to say that there's no way they can own anything less than 50% of the market now if PS3 is taken into account. I guess without it they could be doing better.

If whatever Sony does helps push the format forward and gives the public more awareness of it, then that's great. However, I hope they don't over dominate the market to such a large degree that it upsets other manufacturers and stops them from making Blu-Ray players. That could be bad for the format.

I love Blu-Ray, but I don't completely trust Sony as a company, so them becoming too dominant would worry me a little bit. But, hopefully it all turns out for the best.

[mdm1699]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

I was going to say that there's no way they can own anything less than 50% of the market now if PS3 is taken into account. I guess without it they could be doing better.

If whatever Sony does helps push the format forward and gives the public more awareness of it, then that's great. However, I hope they don't over dominate the market to such a large degree that it upsets other manufacturers and stops them from making Blu-Ray players. That could be bad for the format.

I love Blu-Ray, but I don't completely trust Sony as a company, so them becoming too dominant would worry me a little bit. But, hopefully it all turns out for the best.

The other hardware companies don't act as if they are in this with both feet. It appears that they are comfortable with 1 or two token products, in order to keep themselves in the blu-ray game. It's as if they are waiting on Sony to invest the dollars necessary(hardware and marketing) to drive penetration further. They seem to be waiting for mass adoption to come to them so they can maximize margins and profit. Their players and the player prices are nothing to write home about when taken together.

[patrick99]

Originally Posted by ranma

Share of BD market I believe.

That's the way it starts, but then you get this:

Given the recent death of HD DVD, it’s no surprise that Sony’s predicting such a sharp upturn in consumer interest for Blu-ray.

[Maxell]

Prices need to come down for more consumer adoption. But now that hddvd is dead there isn't much incentive to bring down prices in a hurry.

[IMind]

Originally Posted by mdm1699

I was about to say the same. I am not sure why it is unrealistic with stand-alones so pricey. Adding a blu-ray player/recorder to their lcds should only result in a reasonable incremental price increase. No additional marketing, packaging. Shared hardware. Also saves on cosmetic components. Acually, this is a great idea. LCDS/Plasmas already have digital tuners built-in. Hardrive later? Hmmm.

This is a way I could see Sony getting people like my parents into the market. They really are movie people watch tons, but wouldn't see the added benefit of Blu-ray necessarily.

[IMind]

Originally Posted by Maxell

Prices need to come down for more consumer adoption. But now that hddvd is dead there isn't much incentive to bring down prices in a hurry.

People need to stop fixating on HDDVD. The reason prices should fall at a reasonable rate is simple: DVD.

[blu-rayfan101]

Isn't it Blu-ray wants to have 50% of the video market and not sony wanting 50% of just blu-ray.

[patrick99]

Originally Posted by blu-rayfan101

Isn't it Blu-ray wants to have 50% of the video market and not sony wanting 50% of just blu-ray.

That's what you'd think; unfortunately the author of the article wasn't able to find the words to say that.