Sony didn't include Blu-ray players or PlayStation 3 consoles among the product lines expected to take a hit this fourth quarter from the global economic slowdown. Instead, it blamed the 38% cut in its earnings forecast for the holiday season on slowing sales of LCD TVs, digital cameras and video camcorders, along with the rise of the yen against the dollar and euro. But given the overall outlook--including the company's indication that further cuts to its forecast are possible--it's probably only corporate pride that keeps Sony from lumping its two flagship products in with the rest of the disaster.

Not that there's ever a good time to be teetering on the precipice of global Depression, but the current crisis is particularly ill-timed for Blu-ray. The format is heading into its first holiday selling season free of competition from HD DVD and with unified software support from the major studios. If Blu-ray is ever to reach take-off speed, now is the time.

The format's best hope at this point, ironically enough, may be an influx of low-end, Chinese-made players from the likes of Olevia and Memorex--precisely the scenario Blu-ray's earliest backers set out to avoid.

Paul Sweeting

Paul Sweeting is the Editor of Content Agenda, a business-to-business brand dedicated to the nexus of content, technology and business. This piece was originally published on Paul's blog "Media Wonk" on Content Agenda and is posted on DMW with the author's permission. 

Image by Nick Slide