Following a thorough review of its overall strategy, Toshiba Corporation said Tuesday that it will no longer develop or manufacture HD DVD players, marking an end to the battle against Blu-ray for supremacy as the next-generation optical disc format.
The conflict between high-definition disc formats is rapidly drawing to a close, as Wal-Mart is the latest store to back Blu-ray over HD DVD and Toshiba is reportedly poised to withdraw its format from the market in the near future.
Compounding troubles for the ailing HD DVD format, Best Buy and movie rental service Netflix both said on Monday that they would focus their attention on Blu-ray discs.
Germans have purchased only 70,000 iPhones since the handset went on sale in November. Meanwhile, HD DVD is said to be on its last leg, prompting Toshiba to slash the price of its HD DVD players across the board. And Microsoft is promising to fix a flaw discovered in its just-release Office 2008 suite for Mac.
The two remaining studios backing HD DVD could soon switch sides to Blu-ray, ending the next-generation high-definition format war instantly, according to a published report.
Paramount Pictures is poised to drop its support of HD DVD in favor of Sony’s Blu-ray format, landing a decisive blow to the Toshiba-backed next-generation DVD format and all but assuring Blu-ray's role as the future standard for all high-definition digital video discs.
Movie studio Warner Bros. has confirmed that it will switch to releasing HD movies only in the Blu-ray Disc format, potentially ending HD DVD's run in the marketplace and affecting the computer industry as a consequence.
Apple Inc. at this month's Macworld Expo will will outline a high-definition video strategy that will see its weight thrown further behind Sony Corp's Blu-ray DVD format as opposed to Toshiba's HD-DVD, according to one Wall Street analyst.
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Slash Lane
Aidan Malley
Katie Marsal
AppleInsider Staff
