Toshiba to abandon HD DVD
The Yomiuri Shimbun
yomiuri.co.jp
Toshiba Corp. will abandon its HD DVD format, likely resulting in the victory of Sony Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.'s competing Blu-ray, in the duel between the new high-definition DVD formats, it was learned Saturday.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., operator of 4,000 outlets in the United States and the world's largest retailer, announced Friday that it would stop selling HD DVD players and recorders.
According to sources close to Toshiba, the firm will hold a board meeting in the near future to formally decide to abandon production of HD DVD recorders and players and other related accessories.
Toshiba is likely to maintain sales of HD DVD recorders and players for a while, but is expected to stop producing players for personal computers and recorders for televisions, and drop the development of new products.
In the battle over next-generation DVD formats, the Toshiba-backed HD DVD has faced off with the Sony-Matsushita-supported Blu-ray, with major U.S. film companies in the middle, for market share to make their formats the global standard.
However, the two formats are incompatible, prompting consumers to adopt a wait-and-see stance while refraining from purchasing players and recorders in either format until the duel concludes.
Technologically and economically, HD DVD format has remained in an inferior position relative to Blu-ray--which is backed by a consortium of Sony, Matsushita Electric Industrial, Hitachi Ltd. and Sharp Corp.--because Toshiba has failed to attract other major consumer electronics companies to its side.
Before last year's Christmas and year-end sales season, the two sides were neck and neck in terms of the number of film titles released in either format, with about 370 titles on the market by then.
However, during the sales season, when both sides engaged in an all-out competition for recorder sales, Blu-ray format recorders dominated more than 90 percent of the domestic market, smashing the HD DVD format.
Last month, U.S. major film company Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. announced it would only release movies in the Blu-ray format, meaning that four of the six major U.S. film studios are backing the Blu-ray format.
In addition, Wal-Mart followed suit Friday. These moves helped the Blu-ray format cement its dominant position over HD DVD.
Toshiba had fought back with major price reductions of its HD DVD recorders and players in the U.S. and European markets, but failed to turn the tide.