Economic crisis could cripple Blu-ray

Technology analysts have predicted that the current economic crisis could result in Blu-ray staying as a niche product as customers shun expensive upgrades, instead sticking with DVD or turning to on demand services.

The comments come from president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, Roger Kay, adding that he expect sales of movies and hardware to experience a ‘dramatic drop’ during the holiday season and beyond.

"If you can get movies over the wire on demand and have an entire library at your disposal on the screen a la Netflix, that’s the way you’re going to go," Kay told The San Francisco Chronicle.

It comes less than a week after Steve Jobs voiced his concerns over the format, calling it a "bag of hurt" and saying that the firm would not be rolling out the technology in its products until it felt it had reached maturity.