US retailer Kmart has stopped selling Blu-ray DVD players.
The decision is believed to reflect the waning momentum behind the high definition DVD format. The competing format of the HD DVD players meanwhile are rapidly dropping in price, and therefore increasing in popularity.
02 Nov 2007
Blu-ray may have lost a battle, but the war is far from over. Its backers can easily drop the price of their hardware. If
necessary, they could simply raise the prices of DVDs to subsidize the
players. In the age of the cellphone consumers are used to low upfront
costs that are paid back over time.
The consumer in me however just wants to see an end to this silly standards war. Nearly two years ago, I asked an executive with a movie studio how he would explain to consumers that they would have to choose between two standards. He didn't have an answer.