[It's all collapsing in a matter of /days/ now. The latest:]
Wal-Mart waves goodbye to HD DVD
,----[ Quote ]
| Yes, HD DVD truly is the ‘Hopelessly Doomed Digital Video Disc’ now with
| Wal-Mart’s decision to ditch the ailing Toshiba format and go exclusively
| Blu-ray.
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16677/1105/
Days ago:
Toshiba's HD-DVD going the way of Betamax
,----[ Quote ]
| Toshiba is expected to pull the plug on its HD DVD format in the coming
| weeks, after a rash of retail defections that followed Warner Home Video's
| stunning announcement in early January that it would support only Sony's
| rival Blu-ray Disc format after May.
`----
http://ca.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idCAN1451010520080215
iSuppli thinks PS3 will be the ultimate winner – by 2011
,----[ Quote ]
| Putting the PS3 in top spot by 2011, iSuppli says the Wii will be number
| two , with the Xbox 360 in the third spot – but 4 years is a long time in the
| videogame business and just because iSuppli predicts it doesn’t mean it will
| come true.
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16658/1105/
Netflix dumps HD DVD, opts for Blu-ray
,----[ Quote ]
| Stating that the industry has already picked a winner in the battle of
| next-generation DVD superiority, Netflix announced Monday that it will stock
| only Blu-ray discs and drop the HD DVD format. Since the first
| high-definition DVDs came on the market in early 2006, Netflix has offered
| both formats.
`----
http://www.macworld.com/article/132047/2008/02/netflix.html
Xbox 360 HD DVD Drive 48 percent price drop
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft have announced a dramatic drop in the Xbox 360 add on HD DVD drive
| package.
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16509/1063/
HD DVD News: Why Intel Supports the HD DVD Format
,----[ Quote ]
| Regardless, many believe that the format which can proivde a replacement to
| current DVD players (HD DVD is support by the DVD forum) at a low cost is HD
| DVD; including tech giant Intel.
`----
http://ilovehddvd.com/hd-dvd-news-why-intel-supports-the-hd-dvd-format
Woolworths stores to stop selling HD DVD
,----[ Quote ]
| Woolworths has thrown its high street heft behind the Blu-ray Disc format.
| From March, it will no longer sell HD DVDs in its shops.
`----
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/01/28/woolworths_exclusively_backing_blu_ray/
Toshiba's HD DVD Price Cuts May Not Stop Blu-ray
,----[ Quote ]
| According to industry reports, Toshiba has invested nearly $3 million for a
| 30-second advertising spot in Sunday's Super Bowl. The company plans to use
| the spot to highlight its lineup of low-priced HD-DVD players.
|
| But the increasingly difficult question for Toshiba is what consumers will
| play on those HD-DVD units if they buy them. Just two weeks ago, Warner Bros.
| Studios announced that it was dropping the HD-DVD format entirely and would
| produce movies in the Blu-ray format alone. The move leaves just three
| companies -- DreamWorks, Paramount and Universal -- still releasing Hollywood
| titles on HD DVD.
`----
http://www.cio-today.com/fullpage/fullpage.xhtml?dest=%2Fnews%2FToshiba-Price-Cuts-May-Not-Stop-Blu-Ray%2Fstory.xhtml%3Fstory_id%3D13000G0BBW9Q
http://tinyurl.com/3dugxl
Jobs: Blu-ray wins HD format war then loses to downloads
,----[ Quote ]
| Blu-ray Disc beat HD DVD, but who cares? Downloads, not physical media, are
| the future of HD content consumption. So said Apple CEO Steve Jobs this week,
| a comment that's a distant echo of allegations made by Transformers director
| Michael Bay last year.
|
| Bay grumbled that the HD format war was, in part, Microsoft's fault, the
| fight being stirred up to worry consumers into not buying eitehr format and
| give the software giant to put movie download and rental services in place.
| Which is, of course, just what Apple launched this week: HD-ready iTunes
| Movie Rentals.
`----
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/01/18/jobs_on_bluray_hddvd/
DVD sales plummet
,----[ Quote ]
| USA Today points out that the the movie download market could be another
| killer. That industry is expected to double from $689 million in 2006 to $1.6
| billion in 2008.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/08/dvd-sales-plummet
Microsoft to bypass High Def disc war with Mediaroom on Xbox 360
,----[ Quote ]
| This is why Microsoft is not overly worried about Warner Bros jumping ship
| from the HD DVD that they back, to Blu-Ray high definition disc format. They
| know that in the long run, the physical media will be bypassed.
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16006/1063/
No Winner In Blu-ray, HD DVD Battle
,----[ Quote ]
| Both rival formats seeking to become the high-definition successor to the DVD
| have attracted consumers, and while Blu-ray Disc leads HD DVD, the race is
| far from over.
|
| [...]
|
| "That is the dirty secret no one is talking about," said Bay, director of the
| recent hit film "Transformers." "They want confusion in the market until they
| perfect the digital downloads." Microsoft sells HD movie and TV show
| downloads to its video game consoles through its Xbox Live Marketplace.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/ibd/071224/tech.html?.v=1
Director: Microsoft fueling HD wars
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is deliberately feeding into the HD disc format wars to ensure that
| its own downloads succeed where physical copies fail, says movie director
| Michael Bay in a response to a question posed through his official forums.
| The producer contends that Microsoft is writing "$100 million dollar checks"
| to movie studios to ensure HD DVD exclusives that hurt the overall market
| regardless of the format's actual merit or its popularity, preventing any one
| format from gaining a clear upper hand. Bay's own Transformers is available
| on disc only in the less popular HD DVD format despite his stated preference
| for Blu-ray. To the director, this is primarily a stalling tactic while
| Microsoft refines its own online-only technology.
`----
http://www.electronista.com/articles/07/12/04/bay.on.microsoft.hd/
Two Studios to Support HD DVD Over Rival
,----[ Quote ]
| But money talks: Paramount and DreamWorks Animation together will receive
| about $150 million in financial incentives for their commitment to HD
| DVD, according to two Viacom executives with knowledge of the deal but
| who asked not to be identified.
|
| The incentives will come in a combination of cash and promotional
| guarantees. Toshiba, for instance, will use the release of “Shrek the
| Third” as part of an HD DVD marketing campaign.
|
| Paramount and DreamWorks Animation declined to comment. Microsoft, the
| most prominent technology company supporting HD DVDs, said it could not
| ^^^^^^^^^
| rule out payment but said it wrote no checks. “We provided no financial
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| incentives to Paramount or DreamWorks whatsoever,” said Amir Majidimehr,
| the head of Microsoft’s consumer media technology group.
`----
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/technology/21disney.html?ei=5088&en=d4e1f285e2f41437&ex=1345348800&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1187698143-B5wO3L/F+4r1NyAsum87vQ
Cringely the Unemployable on the fallacy of Web 2.0, Microsoft ruthlessness,
and the CB radio of our decade
,----[ Quote ]
| Davidson: Which software company would you hate to compete against? What
| makes you single them out?
|
| Cringely: Microsoft of course. They have the deepest of pockets, unlimited
| ambition, and they are willing to lose money for years and years just to make
| sure that you don't make any money, either. And they are mean, REALLY mean.
|
| Davidson: Why do you think Microsoft is mean? Are you implying some kind of
| malicious intent rather than just ruthlessness?
|
| Cringely: Maybe "mean" is the wrong word to use for Microsoft. "Ruthless" is
| good. The company is built in the image of Bill Gates and Bill is a guy who
| gets caught-up in the game of business and doesn't typically see its personal
| cost. To use what might seem to be an obscure example, just look at all the
| various partnerships and industry consortia that Microsoft has announced
| through the years that never produced a product or even a usable
| specification. There have been literally dozens of these operations that are
| intended solely to freeze the competition until Microsoft can figure what the
| heck it actually wants to do. To Microsoft its a PR exercise that helps them
| compete but to customers it is just a damned lie. That's ruthless. There are
| plenty of other examples I can give but you get the point. I represent the
| concerns of users, not vendors, and Microsoft doesn't really care about
| users.
`----
http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/2007/07/cringely-the-un.html
|
|
