Its HD DVD format obliterated by the competition, Toshiba announced in a solemn press release that it has applied to join the Blu-ray Disc Association.
The statement makes no mention of HD DVD, Toshiba's competing high definition movie format that lost the war with Blu-ray last year. It merely says that Toshiba creates a wide variety of digital products, and that supporting Blu-ray makes sense. "In light of recent growth in digital devices supporting the Blu-ray format, combined with market demand from consumers and retailers alike, Toshiba has decided to join the BDA," the company said.
It's not a surprising move, for several reasons. With HD DVD out of the picture, there's really no purpose in holding out on the winning format. Besides that, it was rumored in July that Toshiba would start rolling out Blu-ray products by year-end. The company's announcement confirms this.
If you were a fan of HD DVD, consider this the doomed format's final chapter. HD DVD was christened in 2003, after Toshiba and NEC came together to compete with Sony's Blu-ray, created a year earlier. The two parties tried to avoid a format war, recalling the expensive duel between VHS and BetaMax, but a battle was inevitable.
Blu-ray is notable for being packed into the Playstation 3, while Microsoft sold an HD DVD player as an add-on to their Xbox 360 console. Aside from that distinction, Blu-ray had a higher storage capacity, but what really gave Blu-ray the competitive edge was the superior industry support from both Hollywood studios and consumer electronics companies. When studios and retailers began pulling away from HD DVD, Toshiba said consumer indifference was to blame. Toshiba stopped supporting HD DVD in February 2008.
Toshiba didn't reveal any products today. The company only said that it will announce Blu-ray players and notebooks that integrate Blu-ray drives "in the course of this year." Pricing and timing of launches are still under consideration.
Anyone planning to raise a glass tonight?
