Andre Yoskowitz
15 Dec 2007 16:22
To date, Sony is overwhelmingly dominating Blu-ray standalone sales, but new LG and Panasonic players are hoping to steal part of the market.
As of December 1st, Sony owned 60 percent of all BD unit sales (not even including the PlayStation 3) and Samsung is second at 32 percent. Panasonic and LG each command a small 5 percent share.
According to DisplaySearch, BD standalones "represent 37% of all high-def units sold. HD DVD-only was at 62%, and dual-format, less than 1%."
Panasonic and LG however, have new players coming that should boost their brands. The Panasonic DMP-BD30 was the first BD player capable of supporting picture-in-picture, the "bonus feature in which a separate video stream runs concurrently with the main film."
“We just introduced the Panasonic DMP-BD30 into the market in November, which from a timing perspective put us at a bit of a disadvantage versus products [such as Sony and Samsung players] that had already been in the market for more than a few months,” said Gene Kelsey, VP of entertainment group at Panasonic. “But we feel there is a strong opportunity to grow based on being the only Final Standard Profile player [encompassing picture-in-picture] already on the market. With the good notices that we have been receiving and the future introduction of [accompanying picture-in-picture] software, we will be able to have more impact on the market.”
Source:
Video Business