Target Will Only Stock Blu-Ray Players?
July 27, 2007 | by Nick Mokey
The nation's second largest retailer delivered yet another jab to the HD-DVD camp by announcing it will exclusively stock stand-alone Blu-Ray players.
In addition to Blockbuster placing its substantial weight behind Blu-Ray in the ongoing high-def format wars, the nation’s second-largest retailer will now assume the same position. Target announced on Thursday that its stores will only stock Blu-Ray players in the future, preferring not to pick up any stand-alone HD-DVD players. Target would not cite the reason for its shift in policy, but its shelves are already devoid of HD-DVD players, meaning there won’t be any drastic product-pulling or fire sales. Company representatives deny that Target is taking a stance one way or the other on high-def content and trying to predict a winner. "We are not proclaiming one format vs. the other as the preferred consumer technology, and software will continue to be available to our guests in both the Blu-ray and HD-DVD format," Target spokeswoman Brie Heath told the Associated Press. For the HD-DVD companies, led by Toshiba, having the largest rental chain decline to carry their movies and a major retailer decline to carry their players may seem like a signficant blow, but representatives maintain that cheaper HD-DVD players still sell better. In addition, the nation’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart, is still slated to debut a sub-$200 HD-DVD player for Christmas, which could shake things up even further. [Update 28-Jul-2007: Reports are now circulating (from Xbox team member Larry Hryb and others) that Sony's deal with Target involves only promotional placement on end-caps in Target stores, and that Target will continue to stock HD DVD products like the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player for the foreseeable future. Aren't retail rumors fun? -Geoff Duncan]
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AV_Integrated on Jul 27th, 2007 at 10:24 AM:
This is good information right up to the last line. Wal-Mart has officially said that they are not in a deal with the company referenced within the article to release a HD DVD player this year. It doesn't mean it won't happen or can't happen, but there is no official word of support by Wal Mart and the referenced article specifically is talking about the rumor that Wal Mart denied directly.
So... "still slated to debut a sub-$200 HD-DVD (sic) player" is not backed up with any solid evidence at all and you are likely rehashing a rumor that had been silenced several months ago.