Philips' Next Blu-Ray Player No Longer the Cheapest

Philips has just announced that the upcoming BDP7200 Blu-Ray player will no longer be the cheapest device of its kind on the market. Initially planned to hit the market with an estimative price tag of $350, $50 lower than the cheapest BDP-S300 from Sony, the BDP7200 will sell for a final $399.

Back in January, the company used to tout the upcoming Blu-Ray player as the cheapest device on the market. However, it seems that the price was fixed before Toshiba actually conceded the HD-DVD format's defeat and its retreat from the market. Philips will still release one of the cheapest Blu-Ray devices, except for the fact that it will be similarly priced as Sony's BDP-S300 and the lower-end Playstation 3.

Toshiba's retreat from the market made Blu-Ray gear manufacturers increase pricing for their products, given the fact that they are no longer concerned about competitively priced HD DVD players.

Philips spokeswoman Katie Bromley was quoted as justifying the new price tag on grounds of a "typo" in the January press release. However, the company never issued a correction in order to fix the mistake, as usually required in such situations. "Philips thought that would be the cost at the time," she claimed later, but denied the fact that the new price was not related to HD DVD's exit, although it is obvious that increased demand in Blu-Ray players are likely to impact over pricing.

"The end of the format war creates more opportunity for Blu-ray products," said In-Stat Principal Analyst, Michelle Abraham, Converged Markets & Technologies, Multimedia. "In-Stat expects worldwide shipments of Blu-ray players to reach 23 million in 2011".

Philips' BDP7200 will come packed with the DivX video technology, that would allow enthusiasts to watch DivX-compressed movies using the upcoming low-end player. "DivX is well-positioned to become a standard feature on Blu-ray devices, just as it has shipped in millions of DVD players worldwide," Abraham concluded.