Once mired in a sales battle with a competitive format, the Blu-ray player has grown in popularity with consumers and is enjoying substantial sales growth.
According to a new forecast from ABI Research, shipments of Blu-ray players are expected to more than double worldwide by the end of the year when compared to the tally for 2009. The research organization also sees continued growth next year with the total unit shipments exceeding 62.5 million around the globe.
In North America, standalone Blu-ray players are expected to reach almost 18 percent penetration of TV households, up from just more than 7 percent in 2009.
The growth in Blu-ray players echoes a trend in the broader consumer market where larger, fixed-location devices like flat panel TVs are seeing fast adoption compared to various categories of smaller, portable devices, said ABI Research analyst Mike Inouye.
“In addition to price declines, the greater growth potential of TV-centric devices may be due to some of the recent exciting innovations in TV technologies: larger, flatter panels, Internet connectivity and 3D,” Inouye said.
