Blu-ray player prices to drop 20 percent says Sony's Glasgow

[Snuggle Bunny]

Originally Posted by qj.net

Stand-alone Blu-ray players may shave 20 percent off their price tags this holiday season to bring retail prices down to US$ 399. This is according to Sony Electronics president Steve Glasgow who spoke in a twice-a-year media round table meeting in New York as he answered speculative questions concerning the company's next-generation media format.

This is perceived by some as a probable response of Sony to Toshiba's bold move to drop prices on its stand-alone HD-DVD players. The Wal-mart sale of Toshiba's 1080i HD-A3 players this Friday is the latest of such efforts to gain a better footing on the still relatively untapped consumer base expected to go HD this generation.

Glasgow, however, shot down rumors of Sony Blu-ray players getting any cheaper than US$ 399 any time soon. "Don't count on it," he says in response to questions hinting towards the subject.

Also noted was Glasgow's statement that a firmware upgrade for some existing Sony Blu-ray players is set to come sometime soon. This came as a response to Panasonic's impending release of Profile 1.1 Blu-ray players which is set to come with 1.1 firmware features. In addition, Glasgow said that Sony is on the roadmap to launching its own firmware 1.2 players, though any further details that might hint when it will happen were not dropped.

Cool

[Momma Bear]

$399 You would be better off buying a PS3 in that case. Does this mean a price drop again from Sony? I know sales of Blu-ray dics are outselling HD-DVD. But I can only wonder about all those offers when you buy a PS3 or a Blu-ray player and you can get 5 free discs, are those numbers included in the sales?

Inquiring minds want to know