June 22nd, 2009
Poll: Blu-ray adoption is slow; big challenges ahead
I have no plans to pick up a Blu-ray player anytime soon - and it looks like I’m not alone.
The results of a Harris Interactive survey (PDF) released late last week revealed that 93 percent of Americans surveyed said they are not likely to buy a Blu-ray player within the next year, up from the 91 percent who said last year that they were not likely to buy one.
So much for winning that battle between the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD formats.
So what happened? You might think that those numbers would be considerably higher, considering that 47 percent of consumers now own a high-definition TV, up from 35 percent a year ago.
I can’t speak for others but, in my case, there’s really no reason for a Blu-ray player to watch HD movies. My satellite TV service offers TV shows and pay-per-view movies in high-def. I also have an Apple TV box, which streams HD movie rentals. And there are plenty of other streaming movie devices, such as Vudu, that offer a vast lineup of HD offerings. In a statement, Harris Interactive executive Milton Ellis said:
Blu-ray also faces competition from alternative technologies such as cable, satellite, and the Internet. Consumers today can easily watch high definition TV channels or use the Internet or video-on-demand to access high definition movies. In the near future, access to high definition movies may be a download or streaming delivery of one’s favorite movies to a home media server that eliminates the need for a Blu-ray player and Blu-ray disc. One thing is for sure, the market will be highly competitive and consumers will have a wide variety of choices for their entertainment experience.
At some point, Blu-ray will either have to gain some widespread adoption or the studios will be less likely to want to produce their movies on Blu-ray disc. And if they stop making them, why would anyone want one of the players in the future.
I could be wrong, but it seems to me that this sort of news spells the inevitable death of Blu-ray. It may not happen anytime soon - but unless there’s reason for consumers to buy these devices, I can’t imagine that Blu-ray takes has much of a chance in the long-run.
Sam Diaz is a senior editor at ZDNet. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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