Jeremy Charette
01-10-2006, 12:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=175801324' target='_blank'>http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=175801324</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Pioneer will ship in May a consumer Blu-ray player capable of 1080p resolution with HDMI interfaces, Dolby and DTS sound — for a whopping $1,800. The price tag for Pioneer’s Blu-ray player shocked many industry observers. "They have completely crossed over into La-La Land," said Rob Enderle, analyst with the Enderle Group (San Jose, Calif.). Pioneer thinks otherwise. "It’s our belief this is an early-adopter market more interested in quality than low cost," said Andy Parsons, a senior vice president for product development at Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. (Long Beach, Calif.). Asked for reaction to the promise of $500 HD DVD drives by March, Parsons called this pricing tactic "a very drastic measure." "Anytime we have seen people try to accelerated adoption by lowering price, they have gotten their heads cut off," Parsons added."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/pioneer.jpg" /> <br /><br />I think the story says more than I ever could. Pioneer (and the Blu-Ray consortium) is shooting itself in the foot if it thinks that pricing is a non-issue, even for the early adopter market. I predict that HD-DVD will gain a stranglehold on the HD Optical Disc market long before Blu-Ray can even begin to compete on price.