Pioneer plans pricey new players

By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 1/4/2008

JAN. 4 | Pioneer captures less than 5% of current Blu-ray hardware market share, but the manufacturer is committed to playing in its limited, high-end niche.

Other BD manufacturers, such as Sony and Samsung, are rushing to slash prices to below $300. Toshiba HD DVD players have dipped to below $100. But Pioneer is aiming to stay above the fray with its current $999 BDP-95 model, and the company will start talking about upcoming, even pricier players at the Consumer Electronics Show next week.

Choosing to keep details under wraps, Chris Walker, senior manager of product planning and marketing at Pioneer, said the company will launch several players, some less expensive and some more expensive, in 2008. The company also will launch its first BD Live, or Web-enabled, hardware next year.

Pioneer actually produces more set-top BD players than any other company, charging a manufacturing fee on these products, which are sold under different, undisclosed brand names. Yet players stamped with the Pioneer brand currently barely register at retail, where Toshiba, Sony and Samsung comprised 97% of all high-def standalone sales during the week of Black Friday ending Nov. 24, according to DisplaySearch. Fighting within that remaining 3% are such other BD manufacturers as Pioneer, Philips, Sharp and Panasonic.

Still, Pioneer will continue running unique arthouse TV spots to emphasize its elite appeal. The spots began in September to launch Pioneer’s hyper-pricey Kuro line of high-def TVs, in which one of the more popular sets is the $7,500 60-inch plasma model.

“We don’t want to compete at $299, and I truly believe there are enough customers out there for a higher performance player,” said Walker. “When you’re competing at the lower price points, I don’t know if you can make any money. And we are a smaller [company] than Sony and Samsung. [Also], if people are spending all this money on a perfect Pioneer TV set, the last thing they are going to want to do is connect up to a $99 high-def player.”

He added, “I guarantee our products just look like they are worth more. Consumers will know it’s a better product and will be willing to pay more.”

CE critics do agree with Pioneer's quality claims, with Business Week describing the BDP-95 as the best optical disc player in 2007, noted Walker. Also, Consumer Reports had Pioneer’s earlier model, the BDP-94, tied with Toshiba’s HD-XA2 as best high-def player.

The company does believe the current TV campaign, created by Apple’s company TWA Chiat Day, has increased sales of its TVs and BD players.

“We are seeing surges,” said Walker, who declined to specify further.

Fitting Pioneer’s desire to remain a distinct CE company, the Kuro ads are considered different from most electronics ads, which mostly show people enjoying the products. Pioneer’s black-and-white spots are crafted like a Salvador Dali-esque ode to surrealism. For example, one ad features an eye popping out of someone’s hands.

“We are attracting attention to the Pioneer brand through a little shock tactic,” said Walker. “The only time you see the products are at the end. We don’t talk about specifications and don’t talk about the technical details. We mainly wanted to get an emotional response from the ads. This is branding that moves Pioneer out of the commodity market and elevates us to be perceived as higher performance.”