Blu-ray Players, it is predicted, will ship out 105 million units in 2015. This is according to research done by In-Stat. Which has over 30 years of experience researching and analyzing the Mobile Internet and Digital Entertainment ecosystem. In-Stat further states that Blu-ray players shipped in 2011 to North America represented thirty-eight percent of the total Blu-ray market. Japan still remains the majority market for Blu-ray recorders, while Europe is still big on DVD recorders.
Given the HD format's tough beginnings in 2006, this is surely good news for the early backers of the HD format. In October 2000, we saw our first prototype discs. Followed, in 2003, by our first prototype player in Japan. The HD format continued to develop but faced many hardships and obstacles on the way. Including a fierce battle with HD-DVD, that it finally one back in 2008. It still faces competition from DVDs, which remains a popular. And the 105 million predicted units is lower than in the heyday of DVD players which saw 141 million DVD units shipped in 2006.
However, according to Norm Bogen, who is the vice president of digital entertainment at In-Stat, this will change in the near future. Even the mighty DVD, which is regarded as one of the industries quickest and greatest successes will be eclipsed in sales by the HD format. He states that DVD players and recorders will see a steady decrease over the next 5 years in most parts of the world. By 2015, DVD recorder shipments will basically be non-existence, only in various parts of Japan.
Of course there is a trend moving away from physical media and towards digital online content. Manufactures, instead of fighting this trend have embraced it and equipped most of their players with online streaming and social media services, hard drives for storing digital media and DLNA support. In-Stat says over 15% of Netflix users selected Blu-ray subscriptions at the end on 2010.
But like so much of the HD format's short history, the news is not all good. In-Stat also states that the Chinese market is stalled when it comes to sales. Mainly because of the cheaper priced China Blue High-Definition (CBHD) format has become the standard high-definition choice.
Even if Blu-ray is not taking hold in China, there is no denying the fact the HD format is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. While it does not have the numbers DVD had in the height of its popularity. DVDs did not have any real competition. So if you factor in all the competition that faces the HD format; suddenly that 105 million units in 2015 becomes a very significant.
