| Delusional said: First thing, you can't really say Toshiba may be cheapening their brand. There's no comparison because no other HD DVD player out. Maybe in fact it is very cheap to manufacture so Toshiba is offering at a premium already at $199.99. They are not blu-ray and you can't use blu-ray prices as comparison as to whether or not Toshiba is low-balling. That's the goodness of HD DVD drives, cheaper to manufacture and that's a fact. Second, you don't know if Toshiba is bleeding money. Maybe it cost them $50 to make, they sold it to retailers at $100, kept the MSRP at $299.99, retailers sell it between $199-299 for a 100% mark up. Walmart sell it for under $99, maybe Walmart is the only one losing a dollar per HD DVD player sold. No one has announced the cost to make a HD DVD player yet, but we all know it costs Sony hundreds of dollars to make a PS3. Fuh Yuan had initially said it was rumored to sell 2Million HD DVD drives for the player to Walmart. From what I read, those drives only cost $50 dollars...so...Just because Toyota sells Camry for cheaper than a BMW, it doesn't mean it's a "cheap" brand since it's so reliable and popular. |
I understand what you're saying but it's unrealistic. If the A2 only cost Toshiba $50 to make, they would have launched them at that price. They want to squash Blu-ray and right now and will use any price advantage they can. It would be illogical for them to try to hold out for profits while Sony is moving PS3s out the door by the millions.
Besides, you can't realistically think that Toshiba isn't losing money with a $98 player and 5 free movies. Just the 5 free movies run them a fair amount of money.
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