Report Indicates Only 8 Percent of Americans Planning to Purchase Blu-Ray Players Despite $199 Price

Posted on November 30, 2008 at 3:15 am (PST)

Experts and analysts have always agreed that when Blu-ray players legitimately reached the $199 pricepoint the format would go mainstream. It’s not exactly working out that way.

$200 Blu-ray players are a dime a dozen this holiday season, but according to ABI Research only 8 percent of holiday buyers were considering upgrading to the format. This comes as quite a surprise considering half of American homes have gone HD and its old rival, HD DVD, is all but dead. We’ll have to see in January, when the smoke clears, if this is due to the recession or the public’s general hesitance to pick up another movie viewing format.