Sony Plans to Sell Blu-Ray Player for $599 This Summer
[02/27/2007 07:23 AM]In a bid to fight competing HD DVD, Sony Corp. announced on Monday plans to sell this summer its new Blu-ray disc (BD) player for nearly two times lower price compared to its current product. The device will still be more expensive compared to HD DVD players available today, but more affordable BD offering is still likely to face strong demand.
At a press conference in the U.S. Sony, the main driving force behind the Blu-ray disc format, which already sells BD-equipped PlayStation 3 game consoles for $499 and $599, disclosed plans to release BDP-S300 player, which will be smaller compared to the currently sold BDP-S1 and will be available at $599 price-point, $400 less than the recommended price of the model BDP-S1.
Earlier this year Samsung disclosed plans to market its new BD-P1200 player for $799, down from recommended price of $999 for the BD-P1000 last year. Considering the two announcements, there is a clear trend towards more affordable Blu-ray disc players, which will definitely help to popularize the standard.
The actual prices on the Blu-ray disc players are much lower than those announced as manufacturers’ suggested recommended prices (MSRPs). According to Blu-ray.com web-site, Samsung BD-P1000 can be purchased for $559 from Amazon, Philips BDP9000 costs $549 and Sony BDP-S1 available for $829.At the same time, competing HD DVD offerings from Toshiba start at $345 for HD-A2 and at $449 for premium-class HD-XA1.
Stan Glasgow, president of Sony Electronics, told reporters at the meeting that by Christmas, prices for Blu-ray players should be down below $500, reports Associated Press news-agency.
Sony has previously complained that DVD players became a commodity product too soon, and that it was hard to make a profit in a market dominated by $50 units. Mr. Glasgow predicted that Blu-ray players would take the same route.
“Over time, I think it will be just like DVD,” he said.
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