Blu-ray Arrives In Shanghai

Last night, at my local DVD store, I purchased a Blu-ray disc for RMB 80 (USD 12). The same disc on Amazon costs USD 17.50 (down from USD 35). It is safe to assume, just like every other title in the shop, it is a fake. When Blu-ray was introduced there was doubt as to its viability due to the rise of Internet delivery and competition from HD-DVD. But the appearance of fake discs means Blu-ray has arrived as a standard. It must be viable because there is a big enough market for pirates to be shipping discs. Therefore, I expect to see a huge rise in Blu-ray figures through 2010. And that’s my only prediction for the year…

If disc standards are interesting to you, you may also like to read my thoughts on EVD, written in 2006 when China re-launched the standard after its initial 2002 release. Available here and here.