In light of emerging global demand for blue-laser – Blu-ray Disc (BD) and/or HD DVD – optical disc drives (ODDs) Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic) has established its Storage Device Business Strategy Office to analyze developments and market trends. Digitimes recently conducted an exclusive interview with general manager Masayuki Kozuka.
Q. Why does the BD Alliance (of which Matsushita is a member) claim the upper hand over HD DVD Group in terms of support from the top-eight movie studios in Hollywood?
A. According to statistics by DVD Empire, the ratio of BD and HD DVD movie discs sold globally during the first five months of 2007 was 67:33; of all movie publishing sources, 74.4% had released BD movies and 29.5% had published HD DVD movies.
Q. For users of many desktop and/or notebook PCs, LCD screens are too small to view high-definition (HD) video, how do you plan to attract them to use blue-laser products?
A. For DVD standards, the demand began with stand-alone DVD players and then extended to PC-use drives and burners. Today sales volume for the latter is estimated to be five times that for the former. The trend of development for blue-laser disc drives/players is expected to be the same or similar.
Q. Pioneer has offered a BD Combo burner drive (read only for BD) for sale at only US$299, will Matsushita follow suit?
A. There have been US$2,000 notebook PCs equipped with BD burners, and Matsushita has internally predicted that BD penetration will increase faster if prices of notebook PCs with built-in BD burners or drives falls to US$1,000. BD Combo products, therefore, have the advantage of price competitiveness and Matsushita is planning to launch products in the second half of 2007.
Q. What is Matsushita's business outlook for blue-laser ODDs or players?
A. This year, DVD standards will account for 95% of the global sales volume of all kinds of ODDs (including players and recorders), leaving 5% for BD and HD DVD. But the proportion for BD and HD DVD will rise to 20-30% in 2010. In addition, the shipment volume of desktop and notebook PCs equipped with BD and/or HD DVD burners/drives will reach an estimated 35 million units in 2010, accounting for 17.5% of the projected 200 million units for all PCs.
This interview was translated from Chinese.
Masayuki Kozuka, General manager, Storage Device Business Strategy Office, Matsushita
Photo: Andrea Liu, Digitimes
Article translated by Adam Hwang and edited by Ricky Morris
