Blu-ray Player Sales Up 600 Per Cent, According to UK Online Retailer

Stuart Rowe, COO of play.com is claiming that sales of Blu-ray players have increased seven-fold since Toshiba announced it was cutting and running from its HD-DVD format. The UK-based web retailer sold more Blu-ray players on Tuesday than it has in the whole of last week, and was the first to react to the Toshiba news by slashing HD-DVD player prices.

“People have been waiting a long time to move into the Hi-Def era and now they have the confidence that this is going to be the format,” claimed Rowe, whose cheapest Blu-ray player, the Samsung BD-P1400/XEU, costs just under US$400.

But don’t expect a slew of discounted HD-DVD movies just yet. “There are no real plans for us to slash prices on the disks,” says Stuart. “A lot of people have the players and collectors will keep buying them for the time being.” [T3]