El Segundo, Calif. – Blu-ray.drives will not become the
dominant technology for the foreseeable future, according to iSuppli.
The iSuppli study found Blu-ray penetration at 3.6 percent this
year, a figure expected to hit 16.3 percent by 2013.
Michael Yang, iSuppli’s storage and mobile memory senior analyst,
said there is still no compelling reason for consumers to require a Blu-ray
drive in their PC.
The two overriding factors are the drive’s cost and that not
enough content has yet been ported to the Blu-ray format, Yang said.
A similar situation took place when floppy drives were replaced
by CD-ROM drives and when DVD drives appeared on the scene in the late 1990s.
It was not until a critical mass of movies and games were available on the new
format that people began to replace their CD-ROM drives.
“It’s undeniable that Blu-ray delivers a higher-definition
picture, better sound quality and larger storage space for home entertainment,”
he said. “However, these benefits may have little or no value when viewing the
content on a smaller desktop or laptop PC screen and using poor speakers.”
iSuppli Figure: Forecast of Global Blu-ray Drive Percentage Penetration in PCs, 2009-2013 (Percentage of Total PC Shipments)
Source: iSuppli
