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Originally Posted by Dare
It takes both? Well, I suppose nobody can buy anything if nobody is selling anything, but that's as far as you can take it. The consumer decides what is bought. The consumer can refuse anything the seller offers. And most importantly, all the seller cares about is making the sale. If the consumer doesn't want the new thing and prefers the old thing, guess what the seller pushes? You guessed right, the old thing.
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I think you are grossly underestimating the power of product placement, marketing, and sales. There is a reason why CE and content companies often have to pay the stores money for the best real estate spots in the store. There is a reason why companies spend vasts amounts of money on marketing and promotions.
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You're talking about the time when DVD players came down in price to the point where everyone and their dog got a DVD player for christmas. Of course DVDs were front and center by then. Consumers were demanding them loudly. The handwriting was already on the wall for VHS, because fewer people wanted them, and they were less of a priority for shelf space by then. That change was driven by consumers.
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This was set into motion well before DVD hardware sales started spiking back in 2003-2004. VHS was started taking a backseat in most of my local big box stores near me (Alexandria, VA at the time) back in 1999-2000.
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I go into Best Buy and Wal-mart today (but not Circuit City because they're dead and gone  ), and I don't see Blu-ray front and center. My Wal-Mart puts them off to the side out of the way (at least they aren't locked up anymore), and my Best Buy gives them a shelf in the back. And Target... I had to walk through the video department twice before I found the Blu-ray shelf. Maybe that'll change when or if consumer demand goes up enough, but the consumers will have to make the stores put them up front. The stores aren't going to do it on their own. There are priorities that are dictated by consumer activity. Oh, they'll do what they have to do to clear the inventory from their stockrooms, but they can't make people buy. Look how well the marketing effort for UMD worked.
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Well I guess it depends on where you live. The Best Buy I go to in Salt Lake City has Blu-Ray front and center and takes up a good chunk of real estate. I would say 25-30% of their shelf space is allocated for Blu-Ray. Best Buy, Walmart, and Target all have BD players hooked up to HDTV and are playing demos. My local Costco does as well. My local Target and Walmart have Blu-Ray front and center on the new release end caps as well and both stores have greatly expanded their Blu-Ray section since the same time last year.
UMD and Blu-Ray have little to nothing in common with each other. Completly different CE and retailer support and different markets.