Samsung and LG Cautious About The Blu
March 25, 2008

Samsung, who always seemed like a big Blu advocate with the first player to market, seems to be scaling back on the rah-rah about the format. At least, according to this Korea Times article. In the story, Samsung execs say they won't be spending a lot of additional money on the format, even as Blu arguably still needs pushing to reach mainstream status.
Likewise, LG is going slowly on the Blu front, as consumers are showing some resistance to the format's relatively high pricing.
Samsung cites fears of generating few profits if it puts too much of its resources into ramping up what is now a nascent Blu business.
Although this seems like a knock on Blu, part of me wonders if these companies aren't just doing some venting over stiff competition from Sony. To date, Sony has basically owned the Blu-ray hardware market with sales of both its PS3s and BD set-tops.
Also, Samsung has been one of bigger set-top discounters, offering its BD player for sub $300 pricing over the holidays. The company could be angry that those efforts still weren't enough to catch Sony.

Posted by Susanne Ault on March 25, 2008 | Comments (0)