Toshiba is running a short, promotional sale by selling its
HD A2 HD DVD player for $99 with three HD DVD movies over at the Home Media Expo in Las Vegas. You may be thinking this is great news: but wait, there's a catch. Only attendees of the show will be able to take advantage of the deal, and with ticket prices of between $100 and $500, the deal isn't as great once you get in. Toshiba, maybe you should focus on reducing the prices for general consumers rather than running these awkward "promotions." The fact that you're trying to sell players at a conference reeks of desperation, which is weird since
it looks like you've got nothing to worry about.
[Thanks, Judith]
Update: Toshiba, probably inundated with requests, wanted to make sure everyone realized "The $99 player is an accommodation price only for attendees of the Home Media Expo's EMA trade show this week and is being offered by the HD DVD Promotional Group. It is not in any way connected with a broader consumer offer from Toshiba." So yeah, don't expect to snag one at your local Best Buy or anything, ok?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Xyzzy @ Jul 15th 2007 10:33AM
"Toshiba, maybe you should focus on reducing the prices for general consumers rather than running these awkward "promotions." The fact that you're trying to sell players at a conference reeks of desperation"
Umm, Toshiba just did that last month...
And how come everything Toshiba does, people here say "reeks of desperation." First it was the 5 free movies (which, when Sony does it, people say is brilliant), then it was the $100 price reduction for Father's Day, now this.
This IS a good deal for people who are at the conference. They already paid to go, with no thought of an HD DVD player. Now that they're there, they see a $99 player, who wouldn't want to buy that? I don't know much about the conference, but it's not uncommon for companies to give out free swag (heck, Apple gave away free IPTVs to players at the All-Star game, is that Apple desperation?)
I think someone's just jealous that they're not at the conference...
MAK1981 @ Jul 15th 2007 11:22AM
I remember the days, when Engadget wasn't so biased, and you could actually read an article without immediately knowing which side they were on. This lack of professionalism makes me wonder why Engadget is still around. I'm thinking all the fanboys have made this turn into a Jerry Springer episode with each post, and Jerry Springer's doing fine still... lol
Malleus Dei @ Jul 15th 2007 11:06AM
Ditto.
Joe @ Jul 15th 2007 11:32AM
Jeez, all the HDdvd fanboys leaving comments on this blog reaks of desperation.
carlos @ Jul 15th 2007 11:52AM
Blame the AVS forum. They link to here so they can come over here and whine.
kgelner @ Jul 15th 2007 12:12PM
Nothing to worry about, links to the story about HD-DVD having a 73% market share - which the original press release (oddly not linked to from EnGadget that I can tell) notes is "through May". Now why would you put out a press reelase in July, noting market share in May? Why, it's because at the end of may the PS3 was released in the EU. Any guesses what the marketshare is today? Look at Amazon sales figures for Blu-Ray in the UK and you'll see a very different story.
venk @ Jul 15th 2007 12:15PM
Ummm.....The ps3 launched in March in Europe.
Rene @ Jul 15th 2007 12:33PM
The PS3 was released in March in Europe. So try again, Einstein.
venk @ Jul 15th 2007 12:13PM
"Toshiba, maybe you should focus on reducing the prices for general consumers rather than running these awkward "promotions." The fact that you're trying to sell players at a conference reeks of desperation, which is weird since it looks like you've got nothing to worry about."
This, my firends, is known as a Non-Sequitor. The Conclusion does not logically flow from the initial statement.
How is selling the players cheap at a conference a move of desperation. You do know that the people who pay to attend this conference are the retailers, vendors, and employees, etc of the industry. Getting HD DVD players into their hands seems like a pretty smart move on the part of Toshiba. It's not like they are the first or the last to try something like this.
Phoenixxx1974 @ Jul 15th 2007 12:18PM
This is NOT a bad deal i would love to go to the expo (if i knew there was one i would have gladly paid to attend) and think of it as a bonus for being able to pick up a HD-DVD for a lovely $100 while i am there and either keeping it or selling it for $150-250 make a nice profit since i already have 2 of them (the old HD-A1 in the living room and the HD-A20 which i got for $300 on amazon), so i can see why people would say this is biased because that is not a catch that is a bonus. I think it's awesome going to expos. So yeah i am inclined to agree that this article could have been less negative and more positive for the reasons i have explained.
Rob Cannon @ Jul 15th 2007 12:40PM
"The fact that you're trying to sell players at a conference reeks of desperation"
Have you been to a conference? This kind of thing happens all of the time. Manufacturers are trying to entice early adopters to their platform and where is the best place to find early adopters and what's the best way to get them to try your platform?
HDMike @ Jul 15th 2007 12:49PM
This post reeks of bias. Goodies are frequently given away at trade conventions to generate interest in the product from people that could help spread the word and speed up adoption. Lets give the doom-n-gloom and desperation stuff a rest. Neither format is going anywhere for the foreseeable future.
cybereality @ Jul 15th 2007 2:36PM
Toshiba offers an amazing deal, yet it reeks of desperation (or so you say). Almost every post on this site asks the CE manufacturers to get the player prices below "$199". Toshiba finally does this, even if just for a convention, and somehow they are doomed? There is nothing "awkward" about $99, nothing. Plus they just dropped their prices significantly earlier this month. You can get an A2 for $250 (street price), I've even seen them as low as $199. How is this a bad thing? Secondly you are comparing EU data to a US promotion. Apples and oranges, my friend. Two separate markets. There is not even an attempt to be neutral on the subject.
Congratulations, you just lost another reader. I've already stopped reading Gizmodo because they are totally biased with their Mac spin on everything. I thought you guys were objective, but now I see your true colors. Damn, is any website left that isn't part of the Apple-Sony borg?
mike @ Jul 15th 2007 5:09PM
this blogger needs to be fired. I went to a thosiba conference once, they gave me a free upconverting dvd player which was valued at $129 at the time. Was that an extreme act of desperation that they were just giving away their players for free? Give me a break.
And if toshiba really was able to lower the price to $99 with 3 free movies for the general public, that wouldent be desperation, that would be game over, hd-dvd the winner. Unfotunetly, Toshiba cant do this right now because im sure its at a loss to them for these attendees, and would be too great a loss to lower it now to that much for the public.
Alex @ Jul 15th 2007 8:37PM
All of sudden Engadget gets a new (another?!) Sony shill to write articles?
Raydeen @ Jul 16th 2007 1:02AM
Wow, now that is one biased article.
harris @ Jul 16th 2007 12:00PM
Toshiba has nothing to do with this offer - it's coming directly from the CES people:
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/sorry/toshiba-not-offering-100-hd-dvd-player-but-someone-is-278778.php
oldschoolgamer @ Jul 16th 2007 12:00PM
Yeah I think this will officially be the last time I go to this web site.
al @ Jul 16th 2007 2:31PM
Indeed a lack of professionalism. At least Mr. Harper has only written 2 posts, but maybe that's why he's so bitter. What a twerp.
Dan Schiller @ Jul 16th 2007 2:40PM
Yea, this article is just one of many that have an obvious bias. I'm an HD-DVD supporter but I don't bash Blu-Ray every chance I get. Makes me wonder what sites like this would've been like in previous format "wars" like Beta/VHS etc.
I'm just sick of this. Present news stories like this objectively and let the comments put their "spin" on it.
Nfinity @ Jul 18th 2007 5:39AM
You have to understand Dan that Engadget is in Blu-Ray camp. They might be getting some money for it too. I mean authors already approach every single review or announcement with huge Blu-Ray bias. They own Blu-Ray only players at homes for christ sake. Every single piece of news I read was very sarcastic towards HD DVD even when the news are clearly good, they end the article in a "but we all know that blu ray will kick their ass so they can only hope.." way.
We can all say whatever we want, but in general I don't understand how a consumer electronics oriented site can root for Blu-ray when the actual performance of 2 technologies are not so different, yet one is half the price of the other one. It's funny and pathetic really. The only explanation is that they are being heavily paid or sponsored by BDA or one of their marketing outlets. You see this is how they (Sony mostly) fights in general, they own media outlets, web sites etc that are heavily visited, and they either pay them or actually own them.