2 points:

1. The versatility of this new, smaller player is irrelevant b/c the HD-DVD is losing and will probably lose the dvd war.

2. This isn't a win-lose kind of game for sony. The PS3 does many other things besides play blu-ray games/movies, and therefore the added features will make the ultimate price higher than these cheap players that will be coming out. If/when they come out, Sony will really start to get its blu-ray movie business going, because the blu-ray would be at a more desirable price.

While you are correct that this would make the PS3 less directly desireable, sony will still be getting some easy $$$$ from blu-ray royalties, and can always shovel this money back into wherever it wants. 

mid-June 2012? I don't see how Sharp can produce this all-in-one wonder unit for just $100, while other current units are 4 and 5 times the price.

I just debunked this once, here again.

It is just the blue diode, not the player, stop trying to flame people

It's actually just the blue diode that's the smallest and is only 99$, not the whole player. Everyone just search for "sharp smallest dvd" and you will see the correct info... I am not calling you a liar or anything, some of these sites did have the story wrong, but it's not even feasible for a player to be 100 bucks in this amount of time.

 From engadget.com   http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/28/sharp-readies-worlds-smallest-blue-laser-for-bd-and-hd-dvd/

Sharp -- the company behind the world's largest LCD panel -- just introduced the world's smallest blue laser for next current generation optical players. Right, as in Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD formats -- your choice OEMs. Measuring just 3.3-mm in diameter, the GH04020A4G semiconductor will be available in ¥12,000 ($99) sample quantities starting June 13th before ramping up for mass production later in July. The device will suck 10mW from your laptop's battery while offering at least 10,000 hours of operation before giving up the ghost.

 and cdinfo   http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/Details.aspx?NewsId=20549

Sharp developed an ultra-small laser diode for Blu-Ray and HD DVD drives for notebooks.

Code-named H04020A4G, the new diode has a diameter of just 3.3mm, allowing for easy implementation of it in Blu-Ray and HD DVD drives (readers) for notebooks.

The diode's low power consumption was directly related to its low operating temperature, allowing Sharp to pack the diode into a small package, with high heat dissipation characteristics. The Japanese company said that the new diode offers high reliability, allowing it to continuously operate at 10mW for more than 10,000 hours.

Sharp will start shipping samples of the new laser in June, priced at 12,000 Yen[$99 US]. Mass production is expected to start one month later, at a target production output of 500,000 units/month.

The question is, how expensive are the rest of the components, and how cheaply can they be made? Obviously the motor, carriage system, etc. are all very cheap since we have very cheap DVD drives, so it must be a matter of getting the silicon to do the decoding, as well as the embedded software.

It doesn't matter how expensive high def DVD players are now b/c with production increases the price WILL drop. I remember when DVD players were $250. Now I can't find one for cheaper than $75.

Really Dallas, because just last week I saw a DVD player for $14 US at Circuit City.

DVD for the masses

i think he meant "i cant find one for MORE than $75"

That's only because you are falling for the number spin. You see a total ratio of 2:1 and assume that's enough. Sorry, but businesses can't look at just one number. For one thing, the ratio ignores actual numbers, which are a puny few hundred thousand a month for both sides. And average and median sales are also a factor, since those tell us how an individual film sells. And since both sides have basically admitted that those numbers are about the same, it means that the greater studio support for blu-ray has not actually increased invididual film sales.

In a nutshell, the rest of the numbers show HD-DVD isn't losing, and neither side is doing that well right now.