http://www.betanews.com/article/prin...nth/1201203983
Thanks to forum member jwebb1970 for posting the link.
Discuss.
Thanks to forum member jwebb1970 for posting the link.
Discuss.
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Quote:
NPD: Free Blu-ray player deals led to boosted sales this month
By Nate Mook , BetaNews
January 24, 2008, 2:46 PM
A report from NPD Group claimed Blu-ray standalone player sales accounted for 93 percent of the high-def market for the week ending January 12, but NPD itself won't stand behind the numbers , saying they were leaked and that weekly sales data is not a long-term indicator.
According to Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis for NPD, the data "came from an NPD subscriber" and "wasn't approved for release from NPD." He added that the firm typically sees big fluctuations in sales volumes each week, and never makes long-term judgements based on weekly data.
"It reflects what was going on during that week," Baker said, adding that it wasn't smart to "extrapolate that out for six months.
"So what went on the week ending January 12 that led to such high numbers in Blu-ray standalone player sales? Bundling deals with HDTVs, explained Baker. Sharp Blu-ray players accounted for over 30% of sales, as they were offered free to buyers of the company's LCD televisions.
Sony -- also accounting for one-third of sales -- had a similar $400-off deal for Blu-ray players when buying a Sony HDTV.
Panasonic, like Sharp, offered a free Blu-ray player and made up for the remaining third of units sold. Samsung Blu-ray sales were almost non-existent, as the company did not offer any special deals to TV buyers.
The NPD figures did not include Sony's PlayStation 3 or Microsoft's HD DVD add-on for the Xbox 360 -- only standalone players.
Baker wouldn't get specific -- since NPD normally never even comments on weekly sales data -- but said there was some drop in HD DVD player sales. For its part, the HD DVD Promotional Group told BetaNews the weekly sales data was from before the HD DVD player price drop Toshiba announced last week.
Baker did provide BetaNews some insight as to how NPD counts sales. It receives its data from point-of-sale systems from a number of retail outlets across the United States. He would not say how many retailers send data to NPD, but said it was "double digits."
NPD's numbers do not include online sales from the likes of Amazon, where Toshiba's HD-A3 HD DVD player is the number one seller in the DVD player category and number 14 in all of electronics. By contrast, standalone Blu-ray players do not make the electronics list.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jiopsi /forum/post/12922483
So, hardware sales are still hardware sales, no matter what was bundled with what.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jiopsi /forum/post/12922483
So, hardware sales are still hardware sales, no matter what was bundled with what.
Quote:
Originally Posted by binici /forum/post/12922530
So... basically the BDA is giving away standalone players? Guess I should have waited for these promotions, but I ended buying my tv three months ago. Oh well, I guess even though they are giving those away, they are still counting them as sales? How much do they lose out on this?
I wonder if Toshiba will do something similar?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sean_O /forum/post/12922410
http://www.betanews.com/article/prin...nth/1201203983
Thanks to forum member jwebb1970 for posting the link.
Discuss.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lodef /forum/post/12922608
I knew this was a BS graph the minute I saw it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sean_O /forum/post/12922549
They were not hardware sales at all, they were given away to people who were buying HDTV sets.
Unless you believe that the BD players were the deciding factor in those HDTV purchases, even though the article says they moved next to no BD players outside of those that were given away.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sean_O /forum/post/12922644
I think that was the consensus, and probably why the NPD group is speaking out about such a wildly misleading graph.
They must be upset with whichever NPD subscriber leaked that info. Stuff like this could seriously tarnish their reputation in the industry.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kork /forum/post/12922656
I'm still surprised by the numbers of BR players sold during December. I expect the trend to continue that way and obviously the 93:7 ratio of the 2nd week of January isn't part of that trend. It's more around 60:40 in favor of Blu-ray since December.
Many people wondered why HD DVD software sales weren't catching up (myself included) and looking at those numbers you understand why. BR players and HD DVD players basically sold equally in 2007 without factoring the PS3.
As food for thought the PS3 is currently selling around 50k units per week in NA. Sadly it's impossible to say how many are used mainly as a BR player.
As far as the promotion goes BR players went from 15k to 21k the week of the promotion. I don't think you can conclude anything with only 2 weeks of data though.
I still don't get how HD DVD only sold 1k players during the 2nd week. It's obviously part of the reason why Toshiba slashed the price on players again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WayneL /forum/post/12922589
Shows that NPD figures aren't reliable