Europe not seeing cheap Blu-ray players; sales will suffer

Even though American consumers will be able to get their hands on standalone Blu-ray players for low prices this holiday shopping season, our European counterparts will not have the same luxury, according to media research firm Screen Digest.

"A shortage of cheaper Blu-ray players means that the sub-$300 machines that are already appearing on U.S. shelves are unlikely to materialize in Europe this Christmas," said Richard Cooper, Screen Digest analyst.  "Combined with the recession, this means the feormat is unlikely to move much beyond the early adopter market this year."

The demise of the Toshiba-backed HD DVD format took place almost one year ago, and it has been anything but smooth sailing for Sony’s Blu-ray format.  Before the economic downturn hit the global economy, consumers were still reluctant to purchase standalone Blu-ray players, for a variety of different reasons.

Last week, Sony admitted Blu-ray player sales will likely fall short by about 5 million units worldwide, with the majority of the 5 million expected to be sold in the U.S.  Although Blu-ray prices have dropped below $150 this season for U.S. shoppers, it remains highly unlikely Blu-ray sales numbers will be impressive.

Analysts expect the price of Blu-ray players to continue to slide in 2009, which will help lead consumers to finally jump on the bandwagon.  Consumers interested in streaming content through Netflix may be willing to purchase a Blu-ray player to get access to Netflix’s movie catalog.

Not all hope is lost for the European Blu-ray market, however, as Screen Digest believes the Blu-ray market will be valued at 5.4 billion euros by 2012.  Blu-ray adoption will rise when more consumers purchase HDTVs and the price of Blu-ray players drops further.