Toshiba HD-A2 sells over 90,000 for the weekend (1 Viewer)

[Jin E]

An interesting take on the subject. But isn't the #1 selling Blu-Ray Player selling at a loss as well? And has been from day 1?

 

[Shane Martin]

Jin,
Don't point out the hypocrisy

Of which has been pointed out many times that not all ps3's are being used as a BR player. This is evident in disc sales and attach rates.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I don't necessarily see this as desperation either. It's a great
marketing move in the midst of a format war.

Toshiba was obviously looking to clean house on older players
now that new models have been introduced. What a great move
to clean inventory by blowing those models out at inane prices
and thus putting over 90,000 players in the hands of those that
may not have been considering going HD this soon.

It's a brilliant move, me thinks!

 

[Jonathan Kaye]

Agreed; clear old stock, raise awareness and software sales, all in one fell swoop.

The ironic thought occurs to me that this may help Blu-ray's cause as well; the vast majority of people - myself included - haven't got into HD media at all, some of said majority may have bought a cheap HD DVD player in this sale, and they could possibly now decide to go format neutral by buying into Blu-ray so that they can watch Blu-ray-exclusive stuff as well.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

I guess selling 90K at a loss is desperation, selling 6 million at a loss is marketing genius.

 

[FrancisP]

HD-DVD has a price advantage over bluray. Hd-dvd is essentially a extension of the current dvd technology while bluray is completely different. That means you don't have to build a completely new manufacturing system. To allow a hd-dvd player to read regular dvds is much simpler and less expensive
than bluray's ability to read current dvds.

Whether Toshiba planned it or not it turned out well. It also encouraged retailers to discount the A3 of which a number were sold. That strategy is
also prevalent in the satellite tv wars. To get DirectTV or Dish Network, you can pay very little for the hardware.

Also it is very clear the conversion rate of PS3 owners is very low. The vast majority of X-Box and PS 3 are gamers not movie watchers. While PS3 has
given blu-ray a slight advantage it is far from the knock-out blow bluray was hoping for.

 

[Robbie R]

Its apples and oranges!!

Are we forgetting about the billions of dollars in royalties that HD-DVD and BR-Disk are really fighting over? Selling 90,000 units at a loss is a drop in the bucket! How about comparing it to the PS3 and X-box 360? They are both sold at huge losses! Why would they do such a thing??????? Royalties!

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

Ofcourse you did keep in mind the difference in business models for the gaming industry and the CE industry, right? As for the losses on the PS3, it is only in the US market that Sony priced the PS3 lower, in the rest of the world, which accounts for almost 60+% of PS3 sales, the PS3 has always been priced substantially higher. Also, the fact is that since the US launch, Sony has been able to substantially bring down manufacturing costs due to economies of scale and some other cost cutting measures. The $399 40GB PS3 is priced not too much lower than Sony's current manufacturing costs if at all that is.

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

As stated by me earlier, for the purpose of clearing 'dead' and/or 'over' stock, selling at a loss is an acceptable business strategy. Thus if this is the case with the HD-A2 it would be in the realm of normal business practices and thus maybe 'desperation' is too harsh a word to be used if one were to look at this one act by Toshiba in isolation. But if one were to look at the overall scenario as it seems to have built up over the past 6-9 months and then consider this extreme sale, the 'desperation' theory does seem to merit a closer look. Also, considering that the HD-A2 is now pretty much sold out if not entirely, then how does one explain the strategy of having this 'clearance' sale repeatedly over the next two months, which as per reports is the plan?

 

[Jeff Gatie]

So now you are saying the PS3 is not to be considered a CE item and is strictly a gaming console, since the loss leader marketing strategy that BOTH companies employ is only effective in support of a gaming platform (which the PS3 just so happens to be - when it is convenient for the spin)? And you are also saying that given the success of the gaming business model in the past, Toshiba cannot be trying to emulate that business model for the CE industry which is caught in a war of formats with even more future profits at stake than the gaming market; but instead Toshiba is simply acting "desperate"? I'm real sorry Sanjay, but your posts are displaying some real disparity between the accusations being thrown at Toshiba and the defensive posturing for all that is Sony. Methinks thou doth protest/defend too much.

Edit - I'm bowing out now because I respect the requests for no war talk. I hope everyone else does the same before this thing gets all squirrely.

 

[Aaron Cooke]

Just in case it hasn't been mentioned elsewhere (i didn't see it while skimming this thread) I ordered the A2 from best buy for $99 and after a few days got an email saying the item was sold out and discontinued so they would be filling my order with the A3. Extra 2 movies for me! (the other 2 people I know who ordered from best buy got the email as well)

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

Honestly, that is the best suggestion I have read in a long time. This whole Blu-Ray, HD-DVD issue is seeming like more nonsense than anything else to me. Personally, from this moment on, I think I am simply going to enjoy the movies in the best available format and let the idiots responsible for this silly war worry about the outcome. It's not as if taxing our minds over the issue is gonna make one iota of difference either way.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Woah, Aaron, you made out like a little bandito! Congrats!

 

[Jeff Gatie]

I'm with you on that one.

 

[Averry]

I bought a laptop last week.


This week it's up $120.

I got a deal.

 

[Nick]

I think the majority are gonna use it to play rental DVDs instead since Blockbuster does not carry HD-DVD anymore and movies on HD-DVD right now are all old movies that poeple have seen them repeatedly on DVD alreay. But that should send a clear message to Sony that poeple are willing to pay for it if the price is cheap enough and there's another 90000 more HD-DVD players in US household.

 

[Phil Iturralde]

How HD DVD Got its Groove Back


Phil

 

[Averry]

You know, there's probably a heck of alot of PS3's that aren't even hooked up to HDTV's


I can imagine alot of middle class kids with PS3's in their playroom or bedrooms on just a standard def TV.


Here's a question, at that price how many A2's got nabbed and hooked up to a standard def TV expecting an increase in quality? Probably not much, because my friend and I got to Wal Mart and they were out. Apparently by 8:30 over 30 of them were nabbed.


That means people KNEW about them, and felt compelled to show up that early to nab them. They must have known exactly what they were.

 

[Shane Martin]

I would still be worried about the lack of support from the CE side. Toshiba can't continue to push the war on the HD side alone. Toshiba has to hope this translates into disc sales. If not, the CE companies aren't going to budge. There are questions about whether or not HD has a legit business strategy anymore. They aren't enticing other CE companies to jump on board when they will just undercut them and drive the price down to a non-profit level. Surely Ce companies must be enjoying the fact a good number of people are willing to pay $500 for an HD player.

Averry,
While true, I saw quite a few people there just to get some ebay fodder. I think ultimately the judge of whether or not this was a good move or not is up to how disc sales end up going. If HD doesn't get the disc sales, then the studios won't change and HD will end up dead. Warner has stated that the 4th quarter is key. If Warner bails on HD, they are done and it's a possibility if disc sales aren't there.

 

[FrancisP]

The bluray snow job is here. To draw broad conclusions from this forum is ridiculous. It simply does not draw a broad enough audience. For the record, I
did not have either hd player until I bought the hd-dvd player at walmart.

Also what Toshiba is doing makes business sense. Toshiba gets a piece of the action from hd-dvd while most hd manufacturers do not. They can afford to clear out their stock even at lower prices. It gets more players in the hands of people who will buy movies for this and it brings in a continuing stream of revenue.