Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Execs clueless about HD-DVD forecasts


One of the real joys of the information age is that there is so much data coming at you, from so many different sources, that if you are good at winnowing information out of the noise, it's possible to see behind the spin. I love it when two news feeds feature contradictory stories. I love it even more when those contradictory stories come from the same news feed:

TWICE: HD DVD Players Roll Up Sales
Backers of the HD DVD format reported Monday that recent pricing promotions on Toshiba’s three HD DVD players and continued releases of HD DVD titles have pushed HD DVD sales “significantly ahead in the dedicated consumer electronics player market with 60 percent of all dedicated high-definition set-top players sold.”
...
“Toshiba’s latest promotional efforts are clearly resonating with consumers and showing that price is king when it comes to hardware,” stated Craig Kornblau, North American HD DVD Promotional Group chairman. “Behind the increase in sales for hardware and movies, you’re seeing fundamentally lower manufacturing costs and ease of authoring for HD DVD. That’s the type of model that can scale.”

But wait! There's more!

TWICE: Toshiba Cuts HD DVD Forecasts

A high-ranking Toshiba executive revealed to reporters here that disappointing sales in the United States have reduced the company’s sales projections for HD DVD players and recorders, according to a Reuters’ report.
Yoshihide Fujii, head of Toshiba's digital consumer business, said Toshiba’s electronics group now expects to sell 1 million HD DVD players in North America by the end of calendar 2007, down 44 percent from its previous estimate of 1.8 million unit sales, Reuters reported.

...
Previously, Fujii predicted Toshiba would sell 3 million HD DVD players and recorders worldwide by the end of the business year to March 2008, led by the United States.


Oh dear. Rule number two of spin marketing is to keep your story straight (rule number one is that if you tell a big enough fib, people will believe it).




None of this changes my opinion on the whole Blu-ray vs HD-DVD fracas, which is basically:

*slang for "whatever," for those of you who didn't know.

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