Το ωραίο είναι ότι η Toshiba βάζει και από τη τσέπη της καμία $200 για να πούληση το HD Player όταν της κοστίζει τουλάχιστον $700 ελπίζοντας ότι έτσι θα αγοράσει μερίδιο στην αγορά… για να δούμε…
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Toshiba taking loss on initial HD DVD player shipments, iSuppli says
Is Toshiba hoping to buy a head start in the battle for the next generation of DVD technology? The answer is yes, according to market research firm iSuppli, which recently dissected Toshiba's new HD-A1 HD DVD player and priced all of its components.
According to iSuppli's teardown analysis, the bill of materials (BOM) cost for the HD-A1 exceeds its US$499 retail price. The HD-A1's estimated US$674 BOM figure excludes costs for manufacturing, testing, cables, remote control and packaging. Those additional costs could easily push the total cost of the HD-A1 to more than US$700 per unit.
The finding suggests that Toshiba is subsidizing the HD-A1 in an attempt to gain early market share over players that use the rival Blu-ray high-definition (HD) DVD standard. Initial Blu-ray players are scheduled for launch by Samsung Electronics, Sony and others this summer. These products will have retail prices starting at US$999.
Like many early models, the HD-A1 does not have an especially efficient design.
"The Toshiba HD-A1 is basically a combination of a low-end PC and a high-end DVD player," noted Andrew Rassweiler, teardown services manager and senior analyst for iSuppli.
Moreover, the HD-A1 utilizes a general-purpose microprocessor instead of more cost-effective application specific standard product (ASSP) semiconductors typically used in consumer electronics products. The HD-A1 employs an Intel Pentium 4 as the main microprocessor, as well as Broadcom's BCM7411 for HD video decoding and four ADSP-2126x SHARC programmable digital signal processors (DSPs) from Analog Devices.
The total estimated cost of these semiconductors is US$137.
The HD-A1 also uses US$125 worth of memory, including a 1GB dual inline memory module (DIMM) from Hynix Semiconductor., three other types of DRAM, a 256MB flash memory disk from M-Systems and 32MB of MirrorBit flash memory from Spansion.
Adding in other chips brings the total integrated circuit (IC) cost of the HD-A1 to about US$247 per unit.
It's unusual to find this level of subsidization outside of the video game console and mobile phone markets, explained Chris Crotty, senior analyst, consumer electronics at iSuppli. "Presumably, Toshiba anticipates making back any initial HD-A1 losses with subsequent products. There is little question that Toshiba had to use a high-cost design for its first model. But there is a big question as to whether pricing its player so much less than Blu-ray is worth the financial risk," Crotty added.
Reviews of the HD-A1 have been mixed, and the unit lacks the full 1080p resolution available in the competing Blu-ray models as well as in Toshiba's own US$799 HD-XA1 version of the player. Toshiba is hoping to build a lead over its Blu-ray rivals, some of which have recently announced further product launch delays.
What's at stake is leadership in the market for next-generation, HD DVD equipment. Next-generation equipment is one of the few remaining growth segments in an otherwise peaking DVD market, which is facing increasing competition from alternative content-delivery mechanisms, including video-on-demand, Internet downloading and even Disney's resurrected MovieBeam service.
iSuppli forecasts that factory shipments of all next generation DVD equipment - both HD-DVD and Blu-ray - will soar to 65 million units in 2010, up from 1.6 million units in 2006. But unlike other industry experts, iSuppli's Crotty doesn't foresee a clear winner in the battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray.
"This is not a repeat of VHS vs. Beta," Crotty said. "The market dynamics are very different. The most likely outcome is stalemate, with the savvy manufacturers introducing dual-format players as early as the 2006 holiday season."