23
Dec
2008
PC World: Sales of Blu-ray players in 2008 aren’t exactly stellar, despite lower prices and the lack of competition from the recently departed HD-DVD format.
But are things looking up for Blu-ray? Recent reports indicate that 2009 may bring better times for Sony’s high-def video format.
According to a report from Futuresource, sales of Blu-ray discs and players in Europe are up significantly this holiday season, and the upswing is expected to continue into the new year.
The report optimistically predicts that European sales of Blu-ray players will more than triple in 2009, reaching 2.5 million units-and that excludes sales of Playstation 3 consoles, which double as Blu-ray players.
Sales of Blu-ray discs are picking up, too. Shoppers worldwide are snapping up the Blu-ray version of Christopher Nolan’s Batman sequel The Dark Knight in huge numbers: More than 1 million copies have sold in the U.S. alone, and 1.7 million globally.