"Sales of Blu-ray players will hit 2.38 million this year. In 2007 a total of 700.000 Blu-ray players were sold, which means that compared to 2007 the amount tripled," says DisplaySearch report. This does not include sale of the Sony Playstation 3 (also a Blu-ray player). DisplaySearch expects that the format's sales will double in 2009, with current estimates saying 5.31 million.

The research firm adds that factors like falling prices, the release of more Blu-ray movie titles and the purchase of more high definition sets all played an important role in the sale surge. By 2010 standalone player sales will surpass the PS3 sales, it is expected.

Experts in the industry are saying that format's sales will boost but the relatively high price of the player and the popularity of standard-def DVDs remain major obstacles. In the DisplaySearch / NPD HDTV conference lately held in California, the Chairman Blu-ray Disc Association Andy Parsons said that the Blu-ray player and disc pricing were behaving the same way as when DVD was the hot new thing. Parsons noted that "there wasn't enough market volume to lower prices," adding that firms first have to "build awareness and demand for the technology" before stickers can shrink. Granted, this opens the whole "chicken before the egg" debate, with pundits asserting that awareness and demand won't build until prices are low enough to be digested by the masses. Also of note, Andy suggested that consumers still wanted something "they could hold in their hands" when asked about the threat of digital downloads, but then again, would you really expect to hear anything different?

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