Remember how Blu-ray movie sales have been disappointing and the Sony PlayStation 3 remains the most popular Blu-ray player available? Well, the sales numbers are no longer surprising, with many consumers patiently waiting for more price cuts before hopping on the next-generation format bandwagon.
But it seems there are some people in the industry who believe Blu-ray doesn't have a lot of time to leave its mark after all.
The director of electronics for Samsung, Andy Griffiths, predicted the Sony-backed Blu-ray format has about five years left, until the year 2013.
"I think it has five years left -- I certainly wouldn't give it 10," Griffith said in an interview with Pocket-Lint. "Still, it's going to be huge. We are heavily back-ordered at the moment."
It seems rather ironic the very man who predicts Blu-ray's demise in five years also mentioned that the format will be able to rake in strong profits over the next years, then will suddenly lose steam in 2013. Oddly enough, Griffiths said 2008 is the format's year, yet the sales charts would strongly disagree with his belief.
Moving forward, as the prices of high-definition TVs drops alongside the cost of Blu-ray standalone players and Blu-ray movies, analyst expect higher levels of adoption until another rival format pops up.
I also agree that we're right around the corner from a new digital distribution format, and wouldn't be surprised if Blu-ray does have a relatively short shelf life before consumers are able to download movies directly to their TVs without the need of an expensive Blu-ray player and pricey TV.
