Rich Fiscus
12 Feb 2008 0:27
Apparently nobody has told companies backing HD DVD that the format war is over. According to sales figures leaked to This Week In Consumer Electronics from The NPD Group, Blu-ray standalone players (not including PS3 consoles) are still outselling HD DVD units, but not nearly by the same commanding margin as a few short weeks ago.
HD DVD sales appeared to be dropping off the radar less than a month ago. However, as Toshiba, Microsoft, and company have regrouped and made a serious promotional push they've at least managed to halt a complete meltdown. According to the leaked NPD figures, the week ending January 26 saw Blu-ray players accounting for 65% of unit sales compared to nearly 90% just two weeks earlier.
According to Ross Rubin of NPD, “It has only been a couple of weeks since the Warner Bros. announcement [of exclusive support for Blu-ray], as well as Toshiba’s price promotions, Microsoft’s lowering the price on its HD DVD Xbox peripheral and the [Toshiba] HD DVD Super Bowl ad. So, the story continues to evolve. The two formats ended 2007 essentially in a dead heat. Until one camp decides to give up its format we are going to continue to see confusion at retail.”
Rather than talking about sales though, it might be more useful to think in terms of losses. While Sony's Blu-ray players and Toshiba's HD DVD models are in a virtual tie for units sold, when it comes to percentage of overall revenue from those players Sony has approximately a 2:1 advantage. Neither company is actually making money in the Hi-Def DVD player market, unless that situation changes soon it could become a question of who has the resources (and nerve) to continue supporting the cost of competing.
It seems unlikely that either will become profitable except as the lone HD disc option, and even then there's no guarantee. In other words we're just about back where we were before the Warner Bros. announcement at the beginning of the year.