The recent victory of the Blu-ray Disc format in the war with HD DVD is expected to bring the technology into 29.4 million homes worldwide by the end of 2008, according to a research published by the Strategy Analytics Connected Home Devices service.

The "Blu-ray Devices: Forecasting Sales and Ownership," report predicts that Sony?s PS3 games console will continue to drive the Blu-ray market until 2009, after which stand-alone Blu-ray players will become the dominant segment. By 2012 more than 132 million homes worldwide will own at least one Blu-ray device.

Global sales of Blu-ray devices will reach 18.8 million units in 2008, including 4 million stand-alone players, 13 million consoles and nearly 2 million PCs, the report says. By 2012, annual sales of all BD devices will reach 57.4 million units. The largest market will be in Europe, with 26.4 million, followed by the US (22.6 million) and Japan (8.4 million).

"The 265 million homes that will own an HDTV by 2012, and Hollywood?s need for a new growth engine, represent huge incentives for the industry to coordinate marketing activities and demonstrate unified support for the successor to DVD," said David Mercer, Principal Analyst.

The forecast datatable presents Strategy Analytics' latest projections for global sales and ownership of Blu-ray Disc devices. It presents 5-year market forecasts for the US, Europe and Japan. Segmentation includes standalone Blu-ray Disc players, BD games consoles, and BD-enabled home PCs. For additional information visit www.strategyanalytics.net .