Last week featured announcements from various electronics retailers trying to trump each other for sub-$200 prices for the Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player (which we have mentioned previously):
A pre-holiday retail skirmish in high-definition DVD players has begun. Just days after Wal-Mart (WMT) slashed its in-store price on the Toshiba HD-A2 to $198, Circuit City (CC) and Amazon (AMZN) followed suit by offering the player online for $197.99.
Consumers seem eager to buy the HD-A2, which had been selling on Amazon for $230 and as much as $280 elsewhere. The Toshiba player, which had been one of several top-selling DVD players on Amazon before the price cut, has quickly become the favorite: On Monday morning it was the 24th most-purchased electronics item on Amazon’s site. The next closest DVD player ranked 46.
The rival Blu-ray format for high definition DVDs still seems to be leading in popularity however, but the cheapest Blu-ray player is now roughly twice as expensive as the Toshiba HD-A2 so that may make a difference. The reason I am somewhat equivocal is that with different movie studios having chosen different sides in the format battle it looks like it could continue forever.
