Toshiba concedes defeat on HD-DVD

Toshiba has admitted defeat in the high-definition battle with Blu-ray, announcing today that it will no longer develop, manufacturer and market HD-DVD players and recorders. The company said it will provide continued support and after-sales service dor all owners of Toshiba HD-DVD products.

"We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop," said Atsutoshi Nishida, president and ceo of Toshiba. "While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high-definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality."

HD-DVD has been struggling against Blu-ray, as more studios were choosing Blu-ray for their high-definition releases, and many retailers were putting more emphasis on the Blu-ray format. The most recent, and arguably the most influential, example of this was the announcement last week that Wal-Mart would only offer Blu-ray high-definition products.

Toshiba said it will begin to reduce shipments of HD-DVD players and recorders to retail channels, aiming for cessation of these businesses by the end of March. Toshiba also plans to end volume production of HD-DVD disk drives for such applications as PCs and games in the same timeframe, yet will continue to make efforts to meet customer requirements. The company will continue to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD-DVD drives within the overall PC business relative to future market demand.