[JAPAN][Tech] Blu-ray faces bigger challenge from the Internet

In a recent article on JapanToday.com, Chris Betros wrote, “In any case, Blu-ray’s victory may be short-lived because it faces even greater competition from online service providers. A growing number of consumers now download music and videos online and don’t bother to store them on DVDs. Production of music CDs is on the decline as more and more people download music, and a similar phenomenon may happen in the DVD market. ““After years of standards war, the major question for Sony and the Blu-ray camp is whether a physical format for high-definition still has any relevance to consumers in this era of Internet-delivered movies and video on demand (VOD),” said David Carnevale, vice president of multimedia content and services at market researchers Gartner and iSuppli, in a report.”

“Online movie download services from iTunes, Amazon and others have gained traction in recent years and increased their movie, TV, and other video content offerings. “The Internet gives consumers a choice of building a library of HD movies bought over the Internet instead of buying a Blu-ray Disc player and building a new library of movies on discs,” said Carnevale.”

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