The Format War is over. The Winner: Blu-Ray

After Warner Bros.’s decision last month to exclusively release their films in the Blu-Ray format, Toshiba conceding defeat was only a matter of time. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and NetFlix Inc.’s decision to exclusively carry Blu-Ray discs during the last two weeks was the nail in the coffin. Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida told reporters at the company’s Tokyo offices today that Warner’s decision “‘had tremendous impact…If we had continued, that would have created problems for consumers, and we simply had no chance to win.’” Toshiba “will no longer develop, make or market HD-DVD players and recorders,” completely handing victory over to Blu-Ray developers Sony Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (which makes and manufactures Panasonic brand products). Nishida said that Toshiba “concluded that a swift decision would be best.” Shipments of HD-DVDs will completely end by the end of March. “Despite being a possible blow to Toshiba’s pride, the exit will probably lessen the potential damage in losses in HD DVD operations. Goldman Sachs has said pulling out would improve Toshiba’s profitability between $370 million-$460 million a year.” This might also be due to the fact that Toshiba will now focus its attention on bringing a sophisticated microchip called NAND flash memory to market. This chip will be used in cell phones and portable music players. The defeat in the HD format arena might have been avoided if the HD-DVD player had been included in the Xbox 360 like it was originally supposed to be. Toshiba would have had a huge chuck of the HD market almost a year before Playstation 3 came to market and would have had enjoyed brisk HD-DVD. Sony’s Playstation 3 did not make that mistake and Blu-Ray eventually wormed its way to victory.

Source: MSN

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