e-touch
the human side of computing
Monday 18 February 2008, 3:10 PM
Die HD DVD, Die!
More speculations on the demise of HD DVD have emerged today - like it needs anymore!
After receiving several blows in the past few weeks, the Toshiba-backed HD DVD format is now running on its last leg. After Warner Bros' exclusive Blu-ray deal, retailers and DVD rental companies have decided to stop stocking HD DVD products. Come on, HD DVD is now a dead duck. What does it take to die? Toshiba and the Promotion Group are likely to officially support the format until April 2008, but in reality the race is now over.
The big question is how this impacts on Toshiba as an electronics company. It has, after all, bet its disc media business on HD DVD, as well as gone for HD DVD integration into some of its laptop PCs. And then there's the whole Microsoft HD DVD conspiracy.
The channel has inventory to clear, and demands from owners of HD DVD players. This once again shows why incompatible and mutually exclusive formats should be avoided at all cost by the industry. It reduces profitability and delays customer adoption. Plus, it pisses me off because it doubles my workload.
Toshiba is now stuck between a rock and a hard place, and HD DVD will be a big and nasty sword for the Japanese electronics company to fall on. I feel your pain.
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