While Blu-ray sales got off to a rocky start this year, Futuresource Consulting is projecting that consumers in the U.S. will buy more than 45 million Blu-ray discs in 2008. Futuresource also projects that Blu-ray will account for 40-50% of video disc sales by 2012 and will outsell DVD in the U.S. market.
Right now all eyes are on Q4 with everyone wondering just how big it will get, with so many hot title releases planned and all hitting the shelves day and date with the DVD release. The consensus seems to be that consumers will buy close to 45 million Blu-ray discs in the US this year (more than 400% up on last year).Jack Wetherill of Futuresource also expects the price of Blu-ray players to drop to $250 by the end of the year. If you'd like to read more, Futuresource's entire Blu-ray market update can be found here.
On big titles, the share of total sales being taken by BD has already hit 5-6% and by Q4 it is possible we’ll see a 10% or even 12% share for some of the really big hitters.
