A Dallas-based research firm called Parks Associates just announced that they believe Blu-ray player sales will grow 800% in the next four years. Parks also believes that Blu-ray player sales will hit five million this year.
Last year the format sold a total of 800.000 players, but after HD DVD's exit Parks forecasts that the format will reach a total of five million by the end of 2008. Parks didn't include PlayStation 3 sales.
At Video Business they reminded us that the NPD Group predicted an increase too. NPD forecasted that standalone Blu-ray player sales will triple in 2008 and double again in 2009.
"As a category, it's going to outpace a lot of other consumer electronics sales, because we see Blu-ray players complementing what's happening with HDTVs overall," Kurt Scherf, principal analyst at Parks Associates, told Video Business.
Besides high expectations Scherf said that Blu-ray sales will be driven by an expansion of new movie titles from Hollywood.
