AfterDawn: News

Blu-ray player sales up 300 percent on Black Friday

According to figures from DisplaySearch, sales of standalone Blu-ray players (excluding the PS3) were up 300 percent week on week for the week of Thanksgiving including Black Friday.

The added demand was sparked by Sony and Samsung's decision to drop the price of their entry-level players to under $200 USD, says the firm.



Consumers purchased 147,000 players for the week and spent over $30 million USD, coming out to an average of $204 per player, a number lower than half of what consumers were paying last year during the same period.

25 percent of all video-disc player purchased for the period were Blu-ray players, added DisplaySearch.

"Blu-ray had a pretty good Black Friday," Paul Erickson, director of DVD and HD market research at DisplaySearch, added. "This is primarily due to one factor: sub-$200 pricing."

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 10 Dec 2008 0:16

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• 13 comments

• tleewade

  last year they could have sold 3 units and this year up 300 percent would be 9 units a rise of 300 percent. ha ha still not much.

  10.12.2008 08:49 #1

• sukhvail

  Quote:25 percent of all video-disc player purchased for the period were Blu-ray players, added DisplaySearch. That figure, however, is not an indiscriminant value. 25 percent of all video disc players is huge.

  10.12.2008 19:19 #2

• Globe08

  The wifey bought me a blu-ray player and 3 movies. Rambo(latest version, stepbrothers,dark Knight). LOVIN IT. although i wouldnt have purchased it on my own due to its price. Its great but still not worth the pricetag.

  10.12.2008 19:24 #3

• Toshibot

  Originally posted by tleewade: last year they could have sold 3 units and this year up 300 percent would be 9 units a rise of 300 percent. ha ha still not much.9 units?
  
  Gee, makes you wonder who bought the 600,00 BluRay copies of TDK on Day 1 of release.
  
  http://carpetbagger.blogs.nytimes.com/20...night-campaign/
  
  Quote:Sales of next-generation Blu-ray discs alone totaled 600,000 on the first day, leading Warner Brothers to project Blu-ray sales will total 1 million by Saturday. In a surprise, Blu-ray sales were especially strong at grocery stores, indicating that the format is broadening beyond early adopters to more mainstream buyers, notably women.

  10.12.2008 21:51 #4

• jove

  Originally posted by tleewade: last year they could have sold 3 units and this year up 300 percent would be 9 units a rise of 300 percent. ha ha still not much.Get over yourself. being a blu hater is so totaly out this season.

  11.12.2008 00:43 #5

• tleewade

  that formula is for anything whether it is 1,000,000 or 3 and 9 using 300 percent can be a little or a lot .

  11.12.2008 09:57 #6

• lynchg0p

  Quote:Originally posted by tleewade: last year they could have sold 3 units and this year up 300 percent would be 9 units a rise of 300 percent. ha ha still not much.Get over yourself. being a blu hater is so totaly out this season.Yeah.........and being a blu LOVER means you lack insight that it's a technology that will die out inside 5 years. Besides...no one is a "blu-hater". Most peeps just don't see the sense in forking over that kind of cash for something that 1. doesn't yield a never-before-seen result and 2. will probably die out sooner rather than later.
  
  It is a good technology for the time being to fill in the gap between the ever-popular DVD and whatever the next gen is (flash, holographic, etc.

  11.12.2008 12:38 #7

• jove

  Quote:Quote:Originally posted by tleewade: last year they could have sold 3 units and this year up 300 percent would be 9 units a rise of 300 percent. ha ha still not much.Get over yourself. being a blu hater is so totaly out this season.Yeah.........and being a blu LOVER means you lack insight that it's a technology that will die out inside 5 years. Besides...no one is a "blu-hater". Most peeps just don't see the sense in forking over that kind of cash for something that 1. doesn't yield a never-before-seen result and 2. will probably die out sooner rather than later.
  
  It is a good technology for the time being to fill in the gap between the ever-popular DVD and whatever the next gen is (flash, holographic, etc.if you mean me being a blu lover, im not. its just silly to still keep hating blu ray technology like it was still 2006-2007 like we were still picking sides and stuff. it might die out or it might not. i dont care. but its just childish thats all

  11.12.2008 14:11 #8

• SProdigy

  I'm still holding out for a Blu-Ray player. I like the fact that the PS3 plays all sorts of media, is networkable and has a hard drive, but it's nothing my 4 year old P4 laptop can't handle when hooked up to my HDTV.
  
  I don't see how flash media can't catch up in this game. You can pick up USB drives that hold as much or 2/4x more than a standard DVD already. My guess is the only reason it hasn't so far, is because they probably don't have the DRM scheme down yet.
  
  But the thought of having an SD card with an HD movie, or several SD episodes of a TV show on it (or a whole season!) would be super cool. Plus I won't need a giant wall shelf dedicated to storing all of that stuff. Maybe go back to the good old days of CD changers, with a device that could hold 20 cards? BWAH!

  11.12.2008 16:57 #9

• Mez

  What an amazing concept! Sales volume is effected by the sale price. They will sell even more if the drop the prices further.
  
  I don't hate Blue Ray either and do think it is the wave of the future but prices will have to drop to my level before I fork over my hard earned money. I will let the techo weenies and persons with more disposable funds than I pay for the developement costs. I can wait.

  12.12.2008 08:20 #10

• NexGen76

  Originally posted by Mez: What an amazing concept! Sales volume is effected by the sale price. They will sell even more if the drop the prices further.
  
  I don't hate Blue Ray either and do think it is the wave of the future but prices will have to drop to my level before I fork over my hard earned money. I will let the techo weenies and persons with more disposable funds than I pay for the developement costs. I can wait.Development cost ? you joking right ? Blu-Ray is a finish product.Players now are dropping like crazy Blockbusters ran a Special on TDK release date only.Buy a Sony BD player for 199 & get TDK & Step Brothers BD for free.

  12.12.2008 21:43 #11

• martin280

  They are still pretty expensive though, I think it's fine for the average joe to wait another year before they get it. Now... what about my Blu-ray VHS combo?!
  

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  13.12.2008 01:36 #12

• Mez

  martin280, that is right.
  
  I will probably wait another year or two. By then the whole package and disks will be cheaper. I am also waiting on a large screen. No need for Blue Ray with a 30". 50" are down a few grand from last year. Next year 60" will probably be cheaper than 50" this year. When the prices stabelize, it will be time to buy. I will need to get rid of our old media center furniture etc. 30" is the biggest screen our current center will take. Everything will need to be revamped except the sterio. It is a big deal so it is easy for me to put it off.

  16.12.2008 09:24 #13