Posted Tue Feb 27, 2007 at 11:18 AM PST by
Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story included a widely reported statement attributed to SONY Electronics COO Stan Glasgow that suggested that Sony's Blu-ray players would fall to somewhere in the $299-399 price range by the end of 2007. According to a Sony representative, Glasgow's remarks were misinterpreted. We regret the error.
Consumers waiting for lower-priced stand-alone Blu-ray players before jumping into the next-gen format won't have to wait much longer, Sony announced today.
Due "mid-year," Sony said that its new BDP-S300 Blu-ray player should hit retailers at a suggested price of $599 -- almost half the price of the company's current $999 BDP-S1 Blu-ray player.
The company said its new BDP-S300 player will have the same capabilities as its prececessor in a more compact size, matching most modern standard DVD players.
Sony Electronics COO Stan Glasgow explained that he expects the price cuts to drive volume sales, saying "if you look at the history of DVD, $299 to $399, that's when sales really took off."
The company said it expected US sales of both stand-alone Blu-ray and rival HD DVD players to grow by up to 10x in 2007 as prices decline.
Glasgow also predicted price cuts of 20% for the company's LCD televisions in the same period, while emphasizing that both product lines would remain profitable.
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