OEM Blu-ray manufacturers in China and Taiwan are feeling the burn after better known manufacturers began discounting prices to help convince consumers to purchase Blu-ray players in the U.S. and Europe.
Industry sources in Taiwan started shipping Blu-ray players in October and November aimed at the $199 to $299 price range so they would be available on North American and European shelves ready for Christmas and the end of the year. The problem with this move was that Sony, Samsung and Sharp also started to offer prices at $199 and lower, which caused the OEMs from China and Taiwan "suffered seriously stagnant sales."
As the big three companies began to compete with one another to drive down prices, retailers not surprisingly began to market the Blu-ray players from the better known companies -- players from Taiwan and Chinia became "almost unsalable" because of the price cuts.
Despite the price cuts for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the overall price of Blu-ray players has crept up to their previous prices before the holiday shopping season.
Digitimes indicates U.S. consumers were purchasing from Samsung, Sony and other companies, almost completely avoiding the Taiwan and China-based OEM companies during the month of December.
