<b>Toshiba leaps onto Blu-ray bandwagon</b>

[Spiny Babbler]

TOKYO: Having lost the video format war, Toshiba Corp. said Monday it
will make Blu-ray disc products and plans to join the once-rival camp,
the Blu-ray Disc Association.
The Japanese electronics maker had backed another high-definition
video format, the HD-DVD, but seceded defeat last year, saying it will
give up making or developing HD-DVD products.
There had been some speculation Toshiba may skip making Blu-ray
products and instead try to develop an even more sophisticated video
technology.
But Toshiba said it is planning to introduce Blu-ray products such as
players and personal computers. Details were set to be announced
later.
"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," it said, referring to the
Blu-ray association.
The Blu-ray alliance, backed by Japanese rivals Sony Corp., Panasonic
Corp. and others, had been more successful in wooing Hollywood
studios.
Some kind of decision from Toshiba had been expected ahead of the key
year-end shopping season.
The move is reminiscent of Sony's strategy after its Betamax videotape
standard lost to Panasonic's VHS in the 1980s. Sony ended up making
VHS products.
The Blu-ray market could be too lucrative for Toshiba to pass up.
The Japanese electronics maker racked up its biggest loss ever, 344
billion yen ($3.5 billion) in its last fiscal year, which ended in
March.
Apart from home entertainment products, Toshiba is also a large maker
of PCs, in which Blu-ray drives are slowly supplanting DVD drives.
Without Blu-ray drives, Toshiba laptops could have lost out to other
manufacturers.
Courtesy :AP


Sajan Subedi