Toshiba Puts an End to Format War
Posted February 18th, 2008 by Mihnea Boiangiu
Although it’s not official, Toshiba Corp. plans to give up on its HD DVD format for high definition DVDs in favor of Blu-Ray format created by Sony Corp. The format war which reminds of Betamax-VHS battle in the ’80s. Toshiba has lost against Sony when Warner Bros. announced to release high-definition DVDs in Blu-ray format.
The second step in the battle for the high definition DVD format came when Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the giant retailer store, decided to abandon the HD DVD format and only stock its shelves with Blu-ray movies. In addition big players like Best Buy Co Inc and Netflix went for Blu-Ray format. Even the exclusive deal with Microsoft was put in doubt when the software company said it could use Blu-ray technology for its Xbox 360 game console, which currently use HD DVD technology.
The confusing format war is about to end. Sony’s marketing techniques have prevailed against HD DVD format. Toshiba will suffer considerable losses running to hundreds of million dollars. In the end there is a victory for the industry and for the consumers.
