Blu-ray hits 96% of Japanese market with help of PS3

Despite the PlayStation 3’s struggling sales in the US, the PS3 has been a major help for the Blu-ray format in the Japanese market, bringing its market share to 96% in Japan with sales way ahead of both the Xbox 360 and Wii, based on this WesleyTech report.  While this does not mean every PS3 owner is going to play Blu-ray movie titles, this is seen as a significant success for Sony at least in its home country.

On the other hand, the story turns completely different once we take a look outside of Japan.  According to Ars Technica, now that the holiday season is over, it looks like the once near-impossible PS3 has turned the other direction in the US with the PS3 now well stocked stock in many retail stores including Wal-Mart, GameStop and Circuit City.  Even those who try selling them on eBay are lucky enough to attract buyers, unlike the enormous bids they were fetching around a month ago.  However, while the sales don’t appear to be as strong as expected, it is not clear at this time whether it is simply that the supply has finally caught up with demand or if consumers were not really that interested in the PS3 after all, particularly with many early buyers simply purchasing to resell on eBay for a profit.