According to a report by Blu-ray.com, cheaper Blu-ray players will hit store shelves in the United States a lot sooner than one would think. At the moment the average selling price of Blu-ray players is around $199, but the report expects it to fall to $99 fairly soon. The expected drop is due to the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) licensing in China, which led Samsung marketing director Mark Leathan to predict $99 players.
It's a bit early to speculate about holiday prices, as usually it takes to about mid-summer before accurate predictions are made, but NPD Group industry analyst Stephen Baker isn't discarding possibilities. "Black Friday, maybe. It's entirely possible you could see a few players down at that price level," he said.
While the Chinese manufacturing may lower the price of Blu-ray players that will play retail Blu-ray movies, there is also the question of how stripped down a $99 Blu-ray player would be. Would it have advanced interactive features, BD-Live or provide any kind of storage. They also would be competing with more recent players that include new features like streaming video from Internet-based services.
What about the support for audio decoding? One thing is for sure, a $99 Blu-ray player would really give us all some statistics to outline just how important these advanced features are to the average consumer anyway.
While the Chinese manufacturing may lower the price of Blu-ray players that will play retail Blu-ray movies, there is also the question of how stripped down a $99 Blu-ray player would be. Would it have advanced interactive features, BD-Live or provide any kind of storage. They also would be competing with more recent players that include new features like streaming video from Internet-based services.
What about the support for audio decoding? One thing is for sure, a $99 Blu-ray player would really give us all some statistics to outline just how important these advanced features are to the average consumer anyway.
