By Martin Vedris
SYDNEY: Sony Australia’s managing director, Carl Rose, today said that the news of Toshiba’s decision to concede defeat in the HD DVD vs Blu-ray format war means less confusion for consumers.
“Marking an official end to the format war, Toshiba’s announcement makes Blu-ray the clear successor to DVD,” said Sony Australia’s managing director, Carl Rose.
“This is great news for consumers, bringing certainty to the market. Our focus will now be on working with the industry to communicate the benefits of a Blu-ray-led HD home entertainment future.”
Taking HD DVD put of the equation, consumers no longer need to be forced to choose one format over the other, effectively gambling over which format would continue to provide content and hardware into the future.
“This is a big opportunity for our retail partners with hardware and content key to driving growth,” Rose continued.
“This year we’ll expect to see compelling new levels of interactivity made possible with Blu-ray, which will further promote interest and take-up of the format. The way Australia has responded to High Definition thus far augurs well for the format — according to GfK around 50,000 Blu-ray movies were sold in December alone. Over Christmas, sales of Sony Blu-ray players outstripped our target by 40 percent. So we strongly agree with Toshiba that the mass market opportunity for high definition content is untapped. We intend to be a driving force in realising that opportunity.”
In another announcement, Sony Corporation cited the support of major Hollywood movie studios for the Blu-ray format, as well as the consumer uptake of Blu-ray hardware, as “clear proof" that Blu-ray was the leading optical disc technology.
The statement from Sony Corporation said, “We believe that a single format will benefit both consumers and the industry, and will accelerate the expansion of the market. Blu-ray has been and will continue to be a core part of Sony’s ‘HD World’ strategy. We will continue to promote the benefits of HD throughout the value chain including Blu-ray products, Bravia LCD TVs, Playstation 3, Vaio PCs, camcorders, entertainment content, and broadcast and professional products.”
Meanwhile, Andy Parsons, a spokesperson for the Blu-ray Disc Association’s U.S. Promotions Committee expressed relief.
“We in the Blu-ray Disc Association are very happy that this long format war is officially over,” Parsons said.
“Now the task ahead for our member companies is to promote the Blu-ray Disc format as the best way to bring premier quality high definition content into consumers’ lives.”