Remember how Blu-ray movie sales have been disappointing and the Sony PlayStation 3 remains the most popular Blu-ray player available? Well, the sales numbers are no longer surprising, with many consumers patiently waiting for more price cuts before hopping on the next-generation format bandwagon.
But it seems there are some people in the industry who believe Blu-ray doesn't have a lot of time to leave its mark after all.
The director of electronics for Samsung, Andy Griffiths, predicted the Sony-backed Blu-ray format has about five years left, until the year 2013.
"I think it has five years left -- I certainly wouldn't give it 10," Griffith said in an interview with Pocket-Lint. "Still, it's going to be huge. We are heavily back-ordered at the moment."
It seems rather ironic the very man who predicts Blu-ray's demise in five years also mentioned that the format will be able to rake in strong profits over the next years, then will suddenly lose steam in 2013. Oddly enough, Griffiths said 2008 is the format's year, yet the sales charts would strongly disagree with his belief.
Moving forward, as the prices of high-definition TVs drops alongside the cost of Blu-ray standalone players and Blu-ray movies, analyst expect higher levels of adoption until another rival format pops up.
I also agree that we're right around the corner from a new digital distribution format, and wouldn't be surprised if Blu-ray does have a relatively short shelf life before consumers are able to download movies directly to their TVs without the need of an expensive Blu-ray player and pricey TV.
It was beaten to death that many thinks the editor at PocketLint, Stuart Miles, inserted his own opinion into Griffith statement.Griffith never said a word about Blu-ray, it's only Stuart interpretation.Griffith was talking about OLED, a new technology that will replace LCD.
Anyway, if it's true that Griffith said [Blu-ray] is 5 more years... I better stock up. 
This newsitem/article is beyond weird. Extract from the original article:
"Citing online rental sites like LoveFilm's adoption of Blu-ray titles, the move to offer cheaper players and a now clear path to adoption following the Blu-ray HD DVD battle, Griffith says the format will be a winner, although not for long.
Instead Samsung is putting its faith in its OLED technology. The new technology, which is "ready to rock", is being held back at the moment due to high manufacturing costs."
So, the Samsung guy is, supposedly, saying that Blu-Ray will only last 5 years, because, afterwards, it will be OLED all the way? But, wait, isn't OLED supposed to replace LCD TVs? What does it have to do with Blu-Ray, one wonders?
It looks like the article is a mumbo-jumbo of technologies and, instead of saying LCD, says Blu-Ray.
Really confusing. Read the original article and you'll understand.
"Samsung: Blu-ray gone by 2013"
Was it ever around? Goodbye Blu-ray- I hardly knew ye...
Griffith seems like a crackpot. He only represents Samsung UK (a very small division). I don't care what he predicts or has to say.
What the heck does Matlock know about BR ? 
That is utterly incompetent of the Pocket-Lint author, he should issue a correction that he misquoted Matlock because its obvious he did not mean BR will go away when HD is at a high. He was talking about TV technology.
LCD sucks and better be gone by 2013 !
If he did indeed mean BR, I would call BS. I wouldn't buy that for a second.
High Definition itself will be around far beyond 2013 with no successor for some time. It will be a long time before some new higher-def format becomes a standard broadcast format. These kinds of changes in the industry don't happen every 10 or 20 years. NTSC was the standard for over 60 years before HD began to make inroads.
So, that said, why would a succesful optical HD format (as Matlock predicts) suddenly dissappear ? Digital downloads ? I think not, people like to own and collect movies. I think we are more than 5 years from having every movie we own on some digital box and getting the full BR quality from our cable providers or other download.
Poorly written article on Pocket-Lint. Yellow journalism at it's best. Gee you would think in an interview that the Interviewee would be in first person and not "he said this and he said that". One can not tell what context anything was written. It is more a 5 years on LCD then having anything to do with Blu-ray. Obvously Blu-ray is a stepping stone for High Definition, moving away from the heavy compression of DVD. I'm waiting for something better so I can convert my VCD collection too. DVD is just too new. Besides Sony had something to do with it. Or was that CD-R? 
Who cares what a guy who used to be the Sherriff in Mayberry 40 years ago says about anything, let alone Blu-ray?
Yeah, but isn't the world suppose to end in 2012...well at least to the psychics and the Mayans.
Just sayin'!
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