Despite numerous reports today on Gizmodo, Pocket-lint, and i4u.com Samsung will most definitely not be delaying the release of its upcoming Blu-ray drive, the BD-P1000. I just talked to Jim Sanduski, senior vice president of marketing for the Digital Video& Audio group at Samsung and he says the plan was always to release the player in the U.S. in June, in Korea in July, and in Europe in September. European bloggers may not like it, but that was always the plan. The rest of the buzz was just rampant (and errant) blog propagation.

Anyway, the BD-P1000 players are already in the U.S. In fact, Sanduski says thousands of units are on their way to retailers in the U.S. for floor demonstrations right now. The player will be on sale on June 25 for about $1,000.

If Samsung hits that date, and I think they will, it will be the first Blu-ray player on the market. After the lackluster launch of Toshiba's HD-A1, I can't wait to see it. Although some folks here at PCMag are slightly less enthusiastic about Blu-ray's prospects.