[citation][nom]techtre2003[/nom]OK, a 40% decrease in cost resulting in an 11 cent fee for a Blu-Ray discs. That made the old rate what? 18 cents?Am I missing some big savings somewhere?[/citation]
Keep in mind, that $0.07 difference gets bigger as the product goes through manufacture, wholesale, retail, etc.
If it costs Sony (for instance) $0.11 per disc, they'll charge $0.22 to whomever they sell the disk too, in order to make profit. That wholesale distributor will then sell that same disc for $0.44 to make their profit and cover their own overhead. So the retailer then could be paying $0.88 per disc, and then resell it to you for twice that.
So even small costs at the very beginning of the process, make a difference by the time you're buying it at some retailer. Plus you add in actual materials and manufacturing costs. But generally, that's how mark-up works. Lots of times companies simply double the price on something, and that generally covers their overhead costs plus gives them a little bit of profit.
Hopefully this spells much cheaper Blu-Ray players for all of us though. I'd love to finally get a Blu-Ray player for my HDTV, and a Blu-Ray drive for my PC.