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When a new product gets launched, it isn’t a good sign when the price is slashed by 25% within a month. Clearly, lackluster sales of Sony’s new Google TV-equipped Blu-Ray DVD player (the Sony NSZ-GT1) led to the price cut. And it didn’t help matters with most of the major television content providers, namely the broadcast networks (CBS, NBC, ABC/Disney and Fox) and now Viacom (MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon), announcing they would block Google TV access to their internet content. Even Fancast.com’s back door to Hulu has been nailed shut.
Sony has cut the price of the Blu-Ray player $100, from $399 to $299, no doubt because of the media blockade of Google TV. And what else could they do? $399 was a lot for a DVD player that, without the major media content, lets you websurf and read Facebook on your television. It’s like trying to sell a Ferrari for exclusive use in a retirement community where the speed limit is 25, enforced by speed bumps every hundred feet.
Interestingly, the Google TV-equipped Sony HDTVs are not having their prices reduced. Sony has four differently sized GTV-ready High Definition televisions, and their prices have stayed the same. Also, other Sony Blu-Ray players’ prices are reduced as well, but none of them are cut as much as the Google TV version.
Sony’s product page (above) says the price cut is through November 29th (that’s today). They’d be shooting themselves in the foot if they raised the price back. Would they cut it even more instead? Hard to say, but Best Buy has the old price of $399 again.
Google says they’re negotiating with the networks. So if you’re Sony, what do you do with the Ferrari you need to sell? Cut the price or get a shovel and start removing the speed bumps?
Source: Tech Crunch