Blu-ray to hit 100 million milestone

RESEARCH FIRM Futuresource consulting reckons sales of Blu-ray discs in the US, Europe and Japan will overtake the 100 million mark this year.

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Soothsayers say Blu-ray will boom in the US, where analysts predict that sales will jump from 24 million units to in excess of 80 million.

Europe is still considered to be in the early adopter stage, the UK leading the way in Blu-ray uptake, senior analyst Mai Hoang said.

"Sales of more than 3.5 million units in 2008, [the UK] represented over 40 per cent of the West European total," said Hoang.

By 2012, Futuresource predicts that Blu-ray sales will comprise 35 per cent of Western European video disc sales and half of the US market. µ