New portable DVD:
"PANASONIC has five new DVD players set for spring introduction, three of which offer DTS sound. The DVD-A110, DVD-A310 and DVD-K510 all feature DTS outputs (the K510 also has karaoke features). The other two new models are the $1,299-list DVD-L10, a portable unit with a built-in 5.8-inch LCD screen, and the DVD-A105."
Sales:
DVD HARDWARE: There were 34,027 DVD players shipped to retailers in January, according to CEMA, plus an additional 9,744 units in the first two weeks of February.
Forcasts:
OPTICAL PROGNOSTICATIONS: A new Infotech report, "Optical Publishing Industry Assessment, Ninth Edition," claims that 330,000 DVD-ROM drives were sold worldwide following the new format's introduction in late March. With the price differential between DVD-ROM and CD-ROM readers steadily diminishing, OEM PC manufacturers are expected to offer DVD-ROM drives on an increasing number of models in the second half of 1998. DVD-ROM drive sales are projected to accelerate accordingly, reaching 6.7 million units worldwide in 1998 and
24.2 million in 1999. DVD-ROM is expected to replace CD-ROM as standard equipment in all new PC and TV set-top system configurations thereafter, including sub-$1000 PCs and videogame consoles. By 2002, the installed base of DVD-ROM drives is projected to exceed 250 million worldwide, replacing CD-ROM as the dominant software and
multimedia delivery platform. By the end of 1997, total DVD-ROM titles in print worldwide numbered just sixty compared to nearly 46,000 CD-ROM titles in print, according to the study. Based on InfoTech's annual survey of publishers, the catalog of DVD-ROM
titles will remain limited until the fourth quarter of 1998, when the total is projected to reach five hundred worldwide. InfoTech believes that 1998 is the year that DVD-ROM will begin to take its place as the next-generation optical format and projects that worldwide DVD-ROM title revenue will rise from just $3.5 million in 1997 to $567 million in 1998. The royalties from PC and upgrade kit title bundles will continue to contribute the majority of consumer DVD-ROM title publishing revenue in 1998, says Infotech. By the second half of 1999, when DVD-ROM drives are expected to become a mainstream PC component, retail will become the dominant distribution channel for DVD-ROM titles, leading to a sharp increase in title revenue. By
2003, worldwide DVD-ROM title revenue across both PC desktop and TV set-top platforms is forecast to exceed $70 billion, as DVD-ROM supplants CD-ROM as the principal delivery format for all types of packaged interactive media, including applications software, business information, games, education and computer-based training.
(Hey Rare lighten up on the crash-n-burn senario... I told you its range bound. Strangle it!) |
