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In Reply to: RE: Sony Playstation holiday sales hit 1.2M - The Fat Lady Sings posted by AbeCollins on January 07, 2008 at 21:08:09
Why rub it in?
Follow Ups:
Not "rubbing it in". It's just interesting to see the figures speak for themselves after a long period of uncertainty. I also find Sony's strategy very interesting as Sony has been lagging behind for years. They were slow out of gate in Blu-Ray vs HD DVD war but their strategy paid off.
BTW, I suspect that those folks who felt like they were burned by the Warner decision will not be quick to embrace Blu-ray, especially if they bought HD-DVD players as gifts for friends and relatives.It's almost like Warner cooperated in selling contraband goods off the back of a truck knowing that they had a limited usefulness, then after pocketing the customers money Warner's CEO laughs and calls them all suckers as the Warner truck pulls out. I wonder if anyone connected with the timing of this decision ever considered how betrayed some HD-DVD owners might feel, especially holiday buyers whose recent gifts have been instantly devalued and those on a tight budget for whom such a purchase is a major expenditure?
Food for thought.
AuPh
Customers who were "early adopter" whether or not they knew it. Warner is making a show of continuing support until May but I expect HD DVD sales to drop off precipitously. Still, these same customers will still be able to play the discs they did buy for years to come until the hardware breaks.
Warners made a business decision based on what was going on in the market. It wasn't a secret Warner was taking a really hard look at hardware/software sales with a very real possibility they would select one format or another (We had some hints they were leaning Blu-ray's way, even in early December).
I'm guessing when they took a hard look at the December sales numbers with a surge in BD Standalone sales, they made the bid to end this format war once and for all. This move caught me by surprise because I thought they would wait a couple of months before deciding to do anything. But then again, I was surprised BD standalone 2007 YTD sales actually caught up with HD DVD. This statistic might have been the one to compel Warner to finally commit to Blu-ray.
It didn't help HD DVD that there was essentially only one (1) major CE manufacturer facing off against Sony/Samsung/Panasonic/Pioneer/Sharp. This and other Blu-ray industry support also may have played a role in the Warner decision.
HD media sales are still dismal compared to DVD. Warner may have noted this and realized market confusion/"betamax syndrome" fears kept a lot of people away from HD media adoption. Making a bid to eliminate one format (HD DVD) may (or may not) pay off in the long term as folks can now adopt Blu-ray without worrying about an HD format war and a reasonable expectation the format will be around a long time.
He basically said what I've been saying: that there is a window of opportunity in which to make an optical HD format succeed and once the window closes, it's too late. The way forward is blocked by competing formats. Then there is the capacity issue, which allows Blu-ray to deliver more content to customers.
Sales are really neither here nor there. Yes, Blu-ray kicked HD DVD's butt, but the numbers were negligible compared to DVD. The issue is really how to make an HD optical format replace DVD before a downloadable HD technology comes along that confounds the chances of that.
-------------"I have found that if you love life, life will love you back." -Arthur Rubinstein (1887-1982)
...Jazz Inmate would be one of the first birds parroting his words. Yeah, we get the message loud & clear every time you suit up (rah! rah! rah! ;^D)
> > "The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers," Warner Bros Chairman and Chief Executive Barry Meyer said in a statement. < <
That's pretty much what I've been saying regarding the whole war, but with more emphasis on the capacity issue pointing the way to go. YOU'RE the moron who has been advocating a dual format approach which I've repeatedly warned you would lead to stagnation and ultimately the doom of both formats. I'm sorry you're too stupid to realize this, but not surprisingly various CEOs appear to be far more intelligent than you. Thank goodness.
-------------"I have found that if you love life, life will love you back." -Arthur Rubinstein (1887-1982)
- http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/idUSN0444635420080104 (Open in New Window)
It's all about the bottom line and protecting shareholder interests in long term.
Big companies are perfectly willing to risk early adopter fallout since they assume you all know the risks going in. They are looking at long term, mass sales to come.
It wasn't until final figures of last quarter that WB saw which way the tide was rolling and figured they were bucks ahead bailing now. Sitting on that fence was gonna cost too them much money down the road.
It's a bitch being a statitic on the wrong side of the column. Meanwhile you HD-DVD fans can enjoy the discs you have, while you can.
I'm not feeling smug for waiting either, BTW.
...were NOT what I think of as early adopters. These were folks who probably assumed (and correctly) that the new technologies were finally established and that the price of hardware had finally dropped enough to make checking out one of the formats worthwhile (HD-DVD must have been very attractive since unit prices fell below $100 at one point and also included free HD-DVD incentives).Another factor in the growth of new customers over the holidays may have been that the number of new releases on HD-DVD had grown and was of sufficient quantity to be seen as comparable with Blu-ray releases. Both formats have sufficient variety to appear marginally well established even while still being considered niche products by many folks. Note: New releases included a number of blockbuster movies, classics and high-profile television series such as Star Trek TOS.
> > > "Customer concern ain't got nuthin' to do with it." < < <
You make a good point. Unfortunately Warner has made this point abundantly clear to new customers who supported HD-DVD for the first time over the holidays. Personally, I don't think that ticking off folks you want as future customers with an arbitrary decision that hits them in their wallets is a good business model, but what do I know.
> > > "It's all about the bottom line and protecting shareholder interests in long term." < < <
That may be true, but at some point every company has to place it's customers first (even before shareholder interests) if that bottom line is going to remain constant and the company is to retain the confidence of the buying public.
I think that in this instance Warner did a grave disservice to new customers who may place the blame for the format's rapid decline and the loss of their hard earned investment in new gear at their doorstep. BTW, I doubt that these new HD-DVD converts will jump on the Blu-ray bandwagon just because the field has narrowed unless some kind of incentive is offered to recent HD-DVD owners allowing them some opportunity to recoup their lost investment. Whether this was offered by SONY or Warner it would be good PR for the Blu-ray format.
> > > "It's a bitch being a statitic on the wrong side of the column. Meanwhile you HD-DVD fans can enjoy the discs you have, while you can." < < <
Well, IMHO the statistical angle doesn't contribute nearly as much to buyer dissatisfaction as the feeling of having been encouraged to support something over the holidays through massive sales and then finding out that your investment has the appearance of being a ruse to get rid of unsold stock before it becomes obsolete. I'm not saying that this was the intent, but appearances are what they are.
The fact is that marking down players at a time when there was a big corresponding release of major high profile releases (some HD-DVD exclusives) left the distinct impression that this format was going to be around for quite awhile. Warner pulling the rug out from under HD-DVD just after the holidays smacks of a sucker punch, with the customers being the suckers. ;0)
For the record, I'm not as affected by the Warner decision as some no doubt will be even though I paid a bit more for my HD-DVD player than new converts did over the holidays (I bought mine last summer and considered it an early adopter purchase as you've accurately pointed out). While I've purchased quite a few HD-DVDs to date, it's still a relatively limited number (compared to what's currently available), so I'm not too concerned about my Toshiba player breaking down in the short term.
Now if I'd been among the throngs who bought players as gifts during the holiday sales events (albeit at somewhat cheaper prices than I originally paid) I might be a trifle PO'd that my new investment was immediately thrown overboard by Warner just after the holidays, especially if I'd purchased one or more units as gifts for friends and relatives (I came very close to doing this). Studio executives and bean-counters probably don't give this much thought when considering their bottom line, but maybe they should since their customers are drawn from every walk of life and the feeling of being suckered is not something any customer quickly forgets.
AuPh
I, for one, have resisted buying because of that very reason. I hate the dual format crap. I buy a lot of DVD's, and do not want to pick a loser. I will not buy until one or the other is dead and buried. So, this is good news to me, because I want to get into the HD world. But, for now, my current DVD's look great on my Panasonic 50" plasma.
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