While consumers are obviously benefiting from the recent drop in Blu-ray Disc player prices, much to the joy of movie studios who depend on an increase in ownership to boost title sales, consumer electronics companies are rethinking their Blu-ray strategy as it comes down to the all important holiday season.
Sherwood America has revealed that they have put production of their previously announced
BDP-6003 player on hold due to concerns about pricing. They are currently evaluating if the player will ever come to market. No word on if plans for the
Sherwood BDP-5003 have been changed at this time.
The highly anticipated
OPPO BDP S83 also may see delay. The player is currently scheduled to be released as BD-Live ready, with a firmware update available sometime in January, but the company may decide to just wait until January to release the player as fully BD-Live capable. With the prices for BonusView players bottoming out, they feel there is little room in the market for another one.
There is no doubt that Blu-ray is the hot holiday item this year, but with consumers feeling the pain of a slow economy, they will be looking to stretch their spending to the limits, which may result in more Blu-ray player delays.