Toshi might think that spending $3 million on a Super Bowl ad will help boost profits and possibly salvage what’s left to prolong the war, but that’s exactly what Gartner means when they refer to recent actions by Toshiba as “useless resistance.” It’s things like this and the recent price cuts that are prolonging the inevitable. The death of HD DVD.
Gartner believes that Toshiba’s price-cutting may prolong HD DVD’s life a little, but the limited line-up of film titles will inflict fatal damage on the format,” said Gartner analyst Hiroyuki Shimizu. “Gartner expects that, by the end of 2008, Blu-ray will be the winning format in the consumer market, and the war will be over.
Adding salt to its ravaged wounds is Woolworth’s announcement to exclusively back Blu-ray starting in March. However, you can still purchase HD DVDs online, but you won’t find them in stores. Ouch. On the plus side, the HD DVD players make great upconverting players.