July 12, 2007
Reuters is reporting that HD DVD players are outselling Blu-ray players by a 3-1 margin in Europe, according to The European HD DVD Promotional Group says.
The promotional group says it has a 74% market share for standalone HDTV players in Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland, the Reuters article states.
HD DVD backers, which include Toshiba and Microsoft, made a similar claim in the U.S. recently, saying it had a 60 percent market share here. According to Blu-ray supporters, the PS3 gives the Blu-ray format a 5-1 advantage over HD DVD in the U.S., and the European HD DVD group’s sales totals, which have not been revealed, do not include the PS3 console sales.
Both Blu-ray and HD DVD have lowered prices in recent weeks with Toshiba’s entry-level player now at $299 and Sony’s Blu-ray player at $499, but due to high prices and consumer confusion over the format war, sales have been disappointing for both high-def DVD formats.
A spokesman for the HD DVD group told Reuters that surveys indicate that 70 percent of consumers would buy a high-def disc player if the price was under $200. He refused, however, to say when prices would hit that level. Nonetheless, he assured Reuters that prices will drop into that range.
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