James Delahunty
4 Jun 2007 19:23
Sony Corp. had a pleasant and welcome surprise for anybody who was waiting for its BDP-S300 player, announced back in February, to become available with a price tag of $599. Sony announced today that the Blu-ray player will cost $100 less, retailing for $499 instead. That figure is half of what the company's first Blu-ray player was priced at just six months ago.
The new player has essentially the same capabilities as the older BDP-S1 but is smaller. Sony cited lower production costs and growing demand for Blu-ray disc products for the surprise price cut. On the other side of the battlefield, Toshiba is now selling a HD DVD player for less than $300, about 14 months after Toshiba's first player hit stores in the United States.
Neither format has caught on strong enough to have a "definite" advantage over the other in the market, but declining prices combined with the growing number of homes equipped with a HDTV set could set the stage for a big showdown as earlier as the 2007 holiday season.
Source:
Yahoo (AP)