Kmart to drop Blu-Ray

Retail bargain chain Kmart has decided to temporarily drop Blu-Ray players from its stores, say reports. The absence is only temporary, set to last throughout the holiday season, but may be a significant blow to Sony's Blu-Ray format, which otherwise continues to dominate retail sales. The HD DVD Promotions Group claims that unlike Target's Blu-Ray exclusivity -- which turned out to be based on a financial deal -- Kmart has made its decision based on demographics, given that the price of Blu-Ray players is on average higher than that for HD DVD, and tailored mainly for wealthy home theater enthusiasts.

Further undercutting Blu-Ray is a sale being held today by Wal-Mart, discounting the price of Toshiba's HD-A2 player to $99, making it the first HD movie player to slide below the $100 mark. In August, meanwhile, Paramount declared that it would become an HD DVD-only studio, a move which resulted in the highly-anticipated Transformers racking up sales for the HD DVD format. [via BetaNews]

By Electronista Staff