Are you ready for one more piece of news from the HD-DVD
front? After Tohsiba accepted the defeat and handed over the victory to Sony’s BluRay,
now it’s sale time, or maybe let’s-switch-the-product time.
According to a report from AFP, six major Japanese retailers have suspended the
sales of HD-DVD devices, asking Toshiba to take back their machines. Other
retailers have instead decided to offer their customers the possibility to
switch their HD DVD player to a BluRay one.
But while the HD DVD is giving its final breath, the analysts wonder about the
consequences of BluRay’s victory.
Left without any competition, will Sony increase or decrease
the prices of BluRay players and discs? How much money will Sony gain from
royalties paid by the movie studios and by the companies willing to license the
format?
But besides the financial aspects, one question seems to be
more important than anything else: has Sony really won the supremacy in the
movie distribution market?
Some voices claim that the BluRay’s victory will be short,
as the digital movie stores such as Amazon Unbox or Apple’s iTunes will
replaces the optical storage in the consumers’ preferences.
Still, the movie downloads market is in its early stages and
it could take a while before consumers are ready to drop the optical storage in
favor of online distribution.
Even in this case, the BluRay format will remain the main
method of distribution for content like games or software applications.
Also, Sony could face some surprises from none other than
its BluRay partners. Let’s not forget that companies such as Samsung or
Panasonic are producing BluRay players and this could be a real threat for
Sony.
Now that the war between the formats is over, a new battle
is ready to start for the dominance in the BluRay market.
Even if it has won the war for everyone involved, Sony could
end up as a marginal player if it won’t move to grab an important market share
in the BluRay business.
So far, Sony has sold the majority of BluRay players
available on the market and thanks to its BluRay unit integrated in PlayStation
3, the Japanese company is the biggest player.
It is very likely that the other companies will channel
their efforts to develop and sell cheaper BluRay players and to encourage the
consumers to ditch their DVDs in the favor of high-definition entertainment.
Indeed, Sony has a lost of reasons to celebrate, but there
will soon be more battles to fight.
