Target to only sell Blu-ray players in stores
By Nilay Patel 
posted July 26th 2007 1:15AM
posted July 26th 2007 1:15AM
Everyone's favorite wasteful format war took another strange twist today, with the AP reporting that Target will only stock Blu-ray players in its retail stores -- specifically, Sony's $499 BDP-S300. The decision, which Target and Sony are due to announce tomorrow, doesn't include Target's website, Xbox 360 HD DVD drive, or HD DVD movies, so it's not a particularly huge win for Blu-ray, with even Target saying things like "We are not proclaiming one format vs. the other as the preferred consumer technology." Still, coupled with Blockbuster's decision to only stock Blu-ray discs, it looks like the format war might be fought and won at the retailer level, not by consumers.[Thanks, Keith]
And HD DVD Group responds about this horrible news reporting all over the web about Target going Blu-Ray and all that.
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Target Not Going Blu-ray Exclusive
Earlier reports on internet erroneous says HD-DVD.
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Earlier today word was spreading on the internet that the large retail chain Target had made Blu-ray its exclusive choice in the HD format war for selling in its brick-and-mortar outlets. The HD-DVD promotions group has now issued a statement on the news, noting that previous reports were in err as to the fact that an exclusive agreement had been made. Instead, the HD-DVD group points out, Sony has done nothing more than purchase an end cap at retail, as HD-DVD has done in stores like Best Buy and Circuit City.
An official statement was made by Ken Graffeo, the executive vice president of HD Strategic Marketing for Universal Home Entertainment:
"Target will continue to carry the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive as well as HD DVD titles so we don't see much of a change in their plans to carry both formats. In fact, they continue to sell Toshiba HD DVD players on their web site. Sony appears to have bought an end cap, just as HD DVD has in retail stores such as BestBuy and Circuit City.
What's important is that stand alone HD DVD players are still much more affordable than Blu-ray players, plus they offer a better experience - just compare titles appearing in both formats like "300" or "Blood Diamond." Ultimately consumers will be the ones that determine what format provides the greatest value."
The HD-DVD group has been somewhat embattled of late as Sony has achieved some recent successes in distributing Blu-ray though rental outlets, first securing an exclusive position at Blockbuster (story) and then cutting a profit sharing deal with Rentrak (story). Had a major retail outlet like Target actually gone totally Blu-ray exclusive it would have been a bad day indeed for HD-DVD.
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Just to clarify on the Xbox and PS3 sales numbers history.
The XBOX Stopped production of games for the original XBOX; you can't get a game for it now.
The PS2 still has games being released, there are like 12 titles in july/August alone.
That's why the 360 sells so well, their customers MUST upgrade, PS2 customers don't need to upgrade to the PS3 and the bulk of PS2 owners probably don't feel the need to upgrade to the PS3 being as games are still made for the PS2.
Sony Makes money on the PS2 and games it sells for it, so they really aren't that worried about the Wii since it isn't really a next gen console, just an innovative last gen console.(if you want to stretch the term nextgen, then all sony had to do was have a 6 axis controller for the PS2 to be nextgen.)
This holiday will finally start to see how the PS3 really does as a next gen Console from a games standpoint. There are over a 1/2 dozen games being released on the PS3 and the reason for a Gamer only owner to buy one is now coming.
Of course for the format war, this is just more ammunition as Sony will likely still heavily promote the PS3 as a Media device that also play blu-ray, so though the new influx of buyers in the next year will probably have more purchases weighted to Games, they still will probably add to the overall Blu-ray sales numbers.(The only real numbers the industry watches to see who will win, Software.)
The XBOX360 sales numbers look good for two reasons, they were there first(much like HD DVD), and their competitions customer doesn't need to upgrade to the competing next gen console like their customers do.
The original XBOX may as well be a Playstation or Super nintendo, whereas the PS2 is still a viable gaming console with Current sales numbers to prove it.
In Q1 of 07 PS2 outsold the 360, and the original xbox(duh) isn't even listed.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070420-first-quarter-console-sales-nintendo-rules-the-roost.html
So, if you wanted to be an Ass about it, you could say that Sony is Still dominate in the Gaming industry as the Sales for both PS2 and PS3 are greater than the 360 AND the Wii in first quarter 07'