Sony's CEDIA Sales Data (Source: AnandTech)
Sony lets its Blu-ray numbers slip show at CEDIA
Back in May, DailyTech caught flak for a column that claimed late-April HD DVD and Blu-ray sales were in a virtual tie. A lot of reader’s claimed unreliable data was used, or even making figures up entirely
Well, courtesy of Anandtech's CEDIA coverage, the world now has Sony's official word on the matter, with a rare look not at just percentages, but actual sales volume. This Sony viewgraph (shown to the right) was intended to show to sales superiority of Blu-ray, but it shows a few other trends that are particularly interesting. For one, there is confirmation of DailyTech’s claim of a sales tie in April, albeit a brief one. But the raw data reveals an even more interesting trend. Sales for both formats have been on a declining trend since December.
Yes, both are trending downward -- with Blu-ray dropping more sharply than HD DVD.
Now, you can call this just the standard post Christmas drop. But is it? The Christmas season is the high sales point for consumer electronics and big-ticket items ... but movie purchases don't exactly fall into this category. A lot of people went out and bought PS3s and standalone HD players for Christmas. But it seems that after the initial rush wore off, they lost interest in buying new movies for those players.
When you realize that additional players are continually being sold after Christmas, the drop in movie sales is even more worrisome. A new format being adopted is supposed to see sales rising, not dropping.
With combined sales for both formats only in the 60K discs/week range, clearly consumers are still waiting to buy into HD. What's the missing factor still? Cheaper players? Cheaper discs? A better selection of movies? Greater HDTV penetration? Dual-format players? All of the above?
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