Since the first CD-ROM drives were sold with PCs, sales kept going up until 2004 when the time came that CD-RW recorders became cheap enough to start taking over and thus causing CD-ROM sales to decline. With very low pricing for CD-RW drives, sales continued to climb until the pricing of DVD-ROM drives, DVD burners & combo drives also become cheap enough to drive consumers and PC builders to use these instead. As a result, CD-RW recorders began their decline in the 1st quarter of 2005 according to Taiwanese ODD makers.
The demand for CD-RW recorders is expected to be fewer than 40 million units this year compared with 50 to 55 million units last year. The global sales ratio of DVD drives to CD-only drives (both including burners) is expected to change from 60% : 40% back in 2004 to between 80% : 20 to 90% : 10% and this year. As the OEM pricing of combo CD-RW/DVD-ROM drives is only an average of $9 more than CD-RW recorders, it is not surprising that most consumers would be willing to fork out this little extra to avail of DVD read back.
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The global sales volume of CD-ROM drives began to decline year on year in 2004, while, CD-RW burners started to decline in the first quarter of 2005, these Taiwanese ODD makers pointed out. The global demand for CD-RW burners is likely to shrink from 50-55 million units in 2004 to below 40 million this year, these Taiwanese makers added. The ratio of the global sales volume of DVD drives/burners to that of CD drives/burners will shift from 60%:40% in 2004 to 80%:20% or even 90%:10% this year, Lite-On IT's Optical Disc Drive Business general manager Michael Gong indicated. DVD burners, amid all types of ODDs, will grow the fastest in sales volume to 70-80 mullion units this year and possibly 100 million next year, Gong noted. |
As the pricing of DVD recorders continue to fall, it may be just another year before DVD recorders become cheap enough for sales to take over DVD-ROM and DVD-combo drives. 😉
Even though DVD recorders may continue to decline, I can still see the demand for CD-RW drives for another good while yet. CD-RW drives are still widely used in businesses and most businesses would not see the need for using DVD discs for playback or recording since the majority of software still comes on CD and CD-R is still their preferred method for storing data on disc. Also when it comes to bulk purchases, CD-R still costs a lot less than DVD±R.
Source: DigiTimes - Systems
