Blu-ray will help turn DVD burners into commodities

The adoption of Sony Corp.'s Blu-ray will accelerate in 2009, but DVD burners will continue to be "the leading volume product until 2012," according to a new report from IDC, a market intelligence firm with headquarters in Framingham.

Earlier this year, the format war over high-definition video disks apparently ended, with Sony and Blu-ray besting the rival HD DVD format championed by Toshiba Corp.

Overall PC market growth, driven by portable PCs, will give the worldwide CD/DVD market a moderately positive outlook in 2008 and lead to increased demand for slim drives, the IDC report said.

"Despite Blu-ray's win over HDD in the format war, Blu-ray drive adoption will be limited in 2008 because of their high price and only moderate consumer interest," Wolfgang Schlichting, the research director for removable storage at IDC, said in a statement.

Another key point made in IDC's report: DVD burners will continue their race to become a commodity market, and aggressive volume manufacturers will continue to drive down the price, pushing technology leaders out of the mainstream optical disc drive market.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)