It's been a while since I've had a rant about Apple's lack of support for Blu-ray playback, so here goes: media control GfK International, which specializes in international media and entertainment tracking servicing, says in its "2010 Year End Home Video Retail Sales Report" that Blu-ray sales last year were up 76% in Western Europe and 120% in Japan.

While combined retail sales of DVD/Blu-ray units declined (-) 4.8% in Western Europe, video retail markets in Germany, France, and Finland performed better than the previous year.

"A slower adoption rate of the Blu-ray format in Western Europe is the prime lagger for some key retail markets in Western Europe not able to offset declines in sales of standard definition DVD," says Brad Hackley, president of media control GfK, USA.

The Japan video retail market remained somewhat buoyant from the prior year, with combined retail sales of DVD/Blu-ray units declining only (-) 1.73%. The video market in Japan was stabilized by its robust Blu-ray sector, which increased (+) 120% in unit sales.

So Blu-ray is not just holding its own during these tough economic times, but is gaining a bit of ground. So will we see Apple support it? Not likely, but we can always hope.

-- Dennis Sellers