The Blu-ray Disc Assn. is touting a new milestone passed over the Black Friday shopping period, noting that player sales since launch reached 2.7 million units through Nov. 24.
Like the HD DVD camp's recent claims, the figure encompasses both Blu-ray-capable gaming devices and Blu-ray set-top players.
Through October, there had been 2 million units sold of the Blu-ray-enhanced PlayStation 3. That arguably gives Blu-ray set-tops a 700,000 piece of overall format unit sales. But the picture is muddied somewhat by the likely gangbuster PlayStation 3 sales in November due to the introduction of the relatively cheap $399 PlayStation 3. November console sales will not be available from the NPD Group until mid-December.
It's tough to calculate specific gains for Blu-ray set-tops, as many of the manufacturers have not released sales information on their players to this point.
Still, the 2.7 million sold is a clear achievement over the HD DVD side, which pushed its installment base to 750,000 units following widespread holiday retail sales, notably including $99-priced players at Wal-Mart and Best Buy.
