If you wish to contradict anything written in the story, please tell me you have something more to state than: "What a dumb article." Please.
Ok sure!. The basic gist of the article is that Blu-ray player prices are "too high" whatever that means, and this somehow is indicative of nefarious anti-market forces, specifically the operation of a "cartel."
Here is one reason why the article is dumb: the same whining nonsense could have been written about
-VHS players in 1978. (Crappy VHS still expensive? CARTEL! The market is broken!)
-CD players in 1984. (Too expensive! The consumer will never adopt these! Run for the hills FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!!)
-DVD players in 1997. (Players still cost too much!! CAPITALISM NOT WORKING!!!)
-MP3 players in 1998. (How much for a crappy 512MB???? PRICE FIXING AT WORK!!! CONSUMER GETTING screwed!!!)
Seriously, what did the author, who, as you helpfully pointed out, is a professional AV article writer, expect to happen to the price of BR players after the elimination of HD-DVD? I'm guessing BR player manufacturers expected an INCREASE IN DEMAND subsequent to:
1)Increased market share and
2)Decreased disincentive to buy due to format war uncertainty.
So, there is a price bump, and the author posts a ridiculous graph with a line through it, and we are supposed to conclude something is wrong? Really?
Since you asked for explanations, here is one more reason why the article is dumb: the author couldn't help throwing in a little gratuitous "the wrong format won" hand wringing.
But, I figured all of this would be self-evident to any reader, so I just said "This article is dumb."
How's that?