All rumors regarding HD DVD ends today and it seems that the speculations were all true after all. Toshiba has sent QJ.NET a press release informing us that it will begin to discontinue its HD DVD businesses.
Prior to this, the company refused to affirm all the rumors and mentioned that it is still currently assessing the situation. There was also a rumor that Microsoft's Xbox 360, a supporter of the format, will finally go to the Blu-ray side as well.
Here is the exact statements from Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation:
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.
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.
However, he clarified in a separate Q&A that although they will cease the production of HD DVD, that does not mean they will be jumping aboard the Blu-ray ship.
Toshiba then went on and said that supplies and shipments of HD DVD recorders and players will begin to dwindle by the end of March 2008. The company added:
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.
Microsoft, lastly, has yet to comment on this development. Just keep checking back here at QJ.NEt for future developments.
UPDATE: Moments after the announcement, Toshiba President Nishida answered a couple of questions thrown by the press regarding their business move. He said that business was doing great until December of last year.
It should be remembered that it was during this time when major film studios began showing support for the rival format Blu-ray. Speaking of the competition, Nishida reiterated that they will not be supporting the rival camp.
Instead, the president mentioned that they will be focusing their business to other things. Nishida explained:
3D NAND is a possible candidate, but just one of them. To avoid any confusion, we cannot say which next-gen memory technology Toshiba will choose to pursue. Nothing is final.
