CES 2008: Retailers not ready to declare Blu-ray victory

Rich Fiscus
9 Jan 2008 23:27

Regardless of how Sony and the rest of the Blu-ray camp think Warner Brothers' decision to get on board means, according to retailers they haven't won anything yet.
"I don't think we're in a position to go out and declare a winner," said Steve Eastman, Target Corp'svice president of consumer electronics, in an interview. He added that he doesn't believe the majority of consumers are willing to choose either side as long as both exist.
Gary Severson, senior vice president in charge of electronics for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. agrees, saying "If we were able to have one united message and say: 'Here's high definition TV, here's a high definition DVD, here's the medium to play on it,' it's a much cleaner story to customers that the industry can push, that every retailer can push and the customer goes, 'OK I get it.'"
Due to a lack of physical shelves with Limited space to stock the competing formats, online retailers aren't necessarily as concerned as their brick and mortar counterparts. "We don't have to choose," said Paul Ryder, vice president of the electronics store for online retailer Amazon.com. "I don't have to say I don't have enough room on my shelf."
Source: Reuters