Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Toshiba has confirmed that it would stop promoting its HD DVD format for the next-generation DVD after losing the support of key studios and retailers to the Blu-ray technology backed by Sony Corp.
There were already strong indications Monday (Feb. 19) that the Japanese group was preparing to abandon its effort.
The company said Tuesday (Feb. 19) it would begin to reduce shipments of HD DVD players and recorders and aim to end the business by the end of next month. Having one format should help accelerate the shift to the new technology in the $24bn home DVD market as shoppers faced with rival machines that played only one type of disc or the other stayed on the sidelines.
"We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop," said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation. "While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality."
Toshiba also plans to end volume production of HD DVD disk drives for such applications as PCs and games over the next month. IOt said it would "continue to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives within the overall PC business relative to future market demand."
By: DocMemory
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