Toshiba disputes Sony’s reported Blu-ray sales success

Toshiba has dismissed claims that its own HD-DVD format was failing in light of recent statements made by Sony at the Blu-ray press conference at the CeBIT trade show.

According to Toshiba’s HD DVD General Manager Olivier Van Wynendaele, the reason for the seemingly higher Blu-ray format disc sales being reported was because new owners of the Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) console were being handed vouchers by Sony. These vouchers were then used by the PS3 owners to redeem copies of Blu-ray movies.

This, according to Wynendaele, disputed Blu-ray Disc Association chairman Frank Simonis’ claims last week that Blu-ray discs were outselling HD-DVDs by a ratio of 3 to 1.

Wynendaele further stressed his point by saying that the 2 million PS3s claimed to have been sold could not be counted as Blu-Ray player sales because there was no guarantee that people were either choosing to buy Blu-Ray movies with their own money, or if they even used the PS3 console to watch Blu-ray movies. He pointed out that Toshiba sold 200,000 HD-DVD players last year, with Sony selling 30,000 true Blu-ray players – given the PS3 was removed from the equation.

Wynendaele further pointed out that Toshiba’s pricing strategy for their HD-DVD players would put them at an advantage – their latest player, the HD-EP10, was just released last week and currently costs £ 449 (US$ 872). In comparison, Blu-ray players are priced at roughly £ 1000 (US$ 1,943).

Toshiba has dismissed claims that its own HD-DVD format was failing in light of recent statements made by Sony at the Blu-ray press conference at the CeBIT trade show.

According to Toshiba’s HD DVD General Manager Olivier Van Wynendaele, the reason for the seemingly higher Blu-ray format disc sales being reported was because new owners of the Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) console were being handed vouchers by Sony. These vouchers were then used by the PS3 owners to redeem copies of Blu-ray movies.

This, according to Wynendaele, disputed Blu-ray Disc Association chairman Frank Simonis’ claims last week that Blu-ray discs were outselling HD-DVDs by a ratio of 3 to 1.

Wynendaele further stressed his point by saying that the 2 million PS3s claimed to have been sold could not be counted as Blu-Ray player sales because there was no guarantee that people were either choosing to buy Blu-Ray movies with their own money, or if they even used the PS3 console to watch Blu-ray movies. He pointed out that Toshiba sold 200,000 HD-DVD players last year, with Sony selling 30,000 true Blu-ray players – given the PS3 was removed from the equation.

Wynendaele further pointed out that Toshiba’s pricing strategy for their HD-DVD players would put them at an advantage – their latest player, the HD-EP10, was just released last week and currently costs £ 449 (US$ 872). In comparison, Blu-ray players are priced at roughly £ 1000 (US$ 1,943).