NamelessMC
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Maybe on equipment, but let me explain.
I'm a techee, but I'm also an economy student, so I know things about cost, target groups, etc.
When Bluray and HDDVD technology was released, as a lot of you are aware, the technology is very expensive. As is the cost of production to reproduce the master films in HD format on each media. The reason studios rarely adopted multi-platform HD media is because frankly, the cost of production for each type would far exceed the profit margins. Especially when you factor double dipping, upconverting DVD players and budget.
When a new media and entertainment technology is released, the prices target an audience called "urban trendsetters" or, in a more understandable language, "upscale enthusiasts". These are the types of people that bought HDTV's back when the only high definition content was on a computer. The people that invested into DVD players back when VHS was king and everyone was saying, "It doesn't look good enough for me to spend $500 on a DVD player". My mom waited until 2001 to buy a DVD player because the price dropped to $250. She bought a Pioneer unit that had progressive scan capabilities.
The truth is, not a lot of the money comes from the actual sale of equipment. In all honesty, it'll likely be another year or a year and a half before the yield on the components for a BD player are so great that the unit's cost can come down and still yield a profit. If you worked at a retail chain, you'd know. HDDVD players and BD players are among the lowest cost margin product in a store, only second to propietary technology like iPods, laptops and game systems. Where Sony yields most of it profit, is likely from endorsements, development kits, marketing and accessories. (Hence HDMI cable cost, believe it or not, only a margin of the profit from Monster cable sales actually goes back to Monster) The same as the PS2 in the beginning and the PS3 now, the system is a loss for Sony, just like the "other system" is a loss for that "other" company.
So to cut the technical jargon short, I'll move on to the economics reason why we will still get promotions on BD players and media, even after winning the format war.
There's always someone that you have to convince to adopt.
Some people weren't affected either way, by the format war, but rather having a valid reason to upgrade. It's no mystery that BD media is the future of information unversal media. When DVD was first released, people NEVER fathomed that DVD disks would be the standard format for PC software, video-games, data transfer along with movies. It's called top-down selling, but to demographics instead of individual customers. You release something at the highest cost point to cater to the most luxurious lifestyle audience. Then you bring it down a notch, so it's "just barely" affordable for the demographic below it. Then so on, then so forth. That's how you maximize profit.
Sony isn't going to sit around and go, "Okay now that we won and we're the only choice, let's milk the wealthy for having propietary format to yield some profit." They're going to say, "Okay now that we're the propietary format, how can we get even more people to adopt Bluray? 2 for 1 deals? Rebates? Sony card promotions?"
Sony is very smart. And any smart company knows, you gotta give some to get some.
I'm a techee, but I'm also an economy student, so I know things about cost, target groups, etc.
When Bluray and HDDVD technology was released, as a lot of you are aware, the technology is very expensive. As is the cost of production to reproduce the master films in HD format on each media. The reason studios rarely adopted multi-platform HD media is because frankly, the cost of production for each type would far exceed the profit margins. Especially when you factor double dipping, upconverting DVD players and budget.
When a new media and entertainment technology is released, the prices target an audience called "urban trendsetters" or, in a more understandable language, "upscale enthusiasts". These are the types of people that bought HDTV's back when the only high definition content was on a computer. The people that invested into DVD players back when VHS was king and everyone was saying, "It doesn't look good enough for me to spend $500 on a DVD player". My mom waited until 2001 to buy a DVD player because the price dropped to $250. She bought a Pioneer unit that had progressive scan capabilities.
The truth is, not a lot of the money comes from the actual sale of equipment. In all honesty, it'll likely be another year or a year and a half before the yield on the components for a BD player are so great that the unit's cost can come down and still yield a profit. If you worked at a retail chain, you'd know. HDDVD players and BD players are among the lowest cost margin product in a store, only second to propietary technology like iPods, laptops and game systems. Where Sony yields most of it profit, is likely from endorsements, development kits, marketing and accessories. (Hence HDMI cable cost, believe it or not, only a margin of the profit from Monster cable sales actually goes back to Monster) The same as the PS2 in the beginning and the PS3 now, the system is a loss for Sony, just like the "other system" is a loss for that "other" company.
So to cut the technical jargon short, I'll move on to the economics reason why we will still get promotions on BD players and media, even after winning the format war.
There's always someone that you have to convince to adopt.
Some people weren't affected either way, by the format war, but rather having a valid reason to upgrade. It's no mystery that BD media is the future of information unversal media. When DVD was first released, people NEVER fathomed that DVD disks would be the standard format for PC software, video-games, data transfer along with movies. It's called top-down selling, but to demographics instead of individual customers. You release something at the highest cost point to cater to the most luxurious lifestyle audience. Then you bring it down a notch, so it's "just barely" affordable for the demographic below it. Then so on, then so forth. That's how you maximize profit.
Sony isn't going to sit around and go, "Okay now that we won and we're the only choice, let's milk the wealthy for having propietary format to yield some profit." They're going to say, "Okay now that we're the propietary format, how can we get even more people to adopt Bluray? 2 for 1 deals? Rebates? Sony card promotions?"
Sony is very smart. And any smart company knows, you gotta give some to get some.
