BenQ Blu-ray recorder pricing a perplexing question

Stan Beer
Tuesday, 04 July 2006 18:10

Your IT - Home IT

Pricing for Blu-ray and HD DVD high definition video devices have become a perplexing question. First, experts throw up questions about the low pricing of Toshiba HD DVD players, claiming that the strip down price of the players retailing for US$499 is about US$700. Toshiba has denied this and claims to make a profit on its HD DVD players. Now Taiwanese vendor BenQ has announced the release next month of the first Blu-ray recorder for just over US$1000, far less than any competitive offering.
Despite what vendors may be saying about profits, the mad scramble for market share at the moment appears to be creating a climate where loss leaders are proliferating. With such a small market for both high definition technologies at present, the only way that vendors can get their products into the hands of consumers at present is to sell them at a loss. The problem is that even the loss making retail prices are impossibly high for most consumers.