Credit crunch could be Blu-rays death knell

The effects of the current global economic global crisis could see sales of Blu-ray discs and associated technology dramatically underperform this Christmas, according to some industry observers at the recent HD3 Conference in the US.

The economy is the biggest challenge, because there are just so many pieces to the Blu-ray puzzle that consumers face,” Disney’s general manager of domestic home-entertainment Lori MacPherson stated. You need the high-definition television set, you need the player, you need the cables, you need the software.”

Sony also admitted at the gathering that it might reconsider its current pricing policies – though not until after Christmas. Sony VP of business development Rich Marty added: We’re all constantly looking at (disc) pricing. What it amounts to is that we’ll wait until after the fourth quarter and see how it goes.”

Source: Reuters