Warner executive forecasts huge fourth quarter for HD DVD & Blu-ray
By Matt Burns 
posted Aug 9th 2006 12:01PM
posted Aug 9th 2006 12:01PM
It doesn't matter what side of the HD DVD/Blu-ray format war you are on, the manufacturers you are supporting are racking in the loot. Warner Home Video senior VP Steve Nickerson is estimating that there will be anywhere from $1.5 to $1.9 billion in hardware sales in the fourth quarter alone. This is a lot quicker adoption rate then standard DVDs had when that format launched. Those high forecasts equate out to over 500,000 HD DVD and Blu-ray set-top players being sold where standard DVD players sold only 305,000 units. It took DVD four years to reach 35 million devices where Nickerson is estimating that in fours short years, HD DVD and Blu-ray will have sold nearly 100 million units. That is if the formats don't die a slow death. [Thanks, WiFiSpy]
They're kidding right?
Dreaming, more likely.
Yeah. I think they are living in some sort of dream world with those numbers. I would really love to buy an HD DVD or Blu-ray player. But I just can't pull the trigger yet due to price, content and quality issues (esp with the Sammy Blu-Ray player). I personally am gonna wait until some of these issues are ironed out. And I am the type to buy into this kinda stuff. I have and HDTV and I got an XBOX 360 on day one (just as examples) and I have been looking forward to HD DVD players for a while. I can't imagine the mainstream consumer jumping on these things this soon. Maybe next year or in 2008.
Sorry. I did not realize it said in 4 years...I still think they are dreaming....
Is it $1.5 billion in the last 3 months ? what the f@# ..
Yeah, but there will probably be between $1-1.2 Billion in returns. I'm guessing like some others that those people looking to buy the PS3 with the forced-onto-them BD drive will count as legitimate sales for the platform.
Its like counting shotgun weddings as legit.