Death knell tolls for Toshiba’s HD DVD

Toshiba Corporation has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders.

This decision has been made following recent major changes in the market. Toshiba will continue, however, to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products.

Atsutoshi Nishida, president and CEO of Toshiba Corporation said Toshiba has 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," he said.

According to Mark Whittard, Toshiba Australia and New Zealand’s general manager, there were three core reasons for dissolution of the HD DVD brand.

“There was the Warner Bros factor, despite price advantage of the HD DVD product, Toshiba didn’t obtain enough market share and major retailers left the product,” he said.

With a few thousand products sold across Australia, Whittard said Toshiba will continue to offer full service, warranty and hotline support to its customers.

“Toshiba will also handle spare parts for a minimum of five years,” he said.
The vendor has also spoken to retailers about how to manage consumers, particularly those who recently bought a player," said Whittard.

Despite the reduction in shipment of HD DVD products, Toshiba has no intention of taking back products from Australian retailers, nor will it drop pricing on the product.

Toshiba staff in Australia will not be affected by the end of HD DVD. However a few local staff will be re-directed to other divisions, said Whittard.
This decision will also not impact on Toshiba's standard DVD commitments, and the company will continue to market conventional DVD players and recorders.

Toshiba intends to continue to contribute to the development of the DVD industry as a member of the DVD Forum, an international organisation with around 200 member companies.