HD DVD drives to be included in all Toshiba laptops
Toshiba plans to start embedding HD DVD drives in all of its’ notebook computers starting next year. How many laptops would that be? Toshiba sold approximately 9.2 million laptops in 2006 and hopes to double that number in 2008 with the help of their new NAND flash storage laptops, which do not use a traditional laptop hard drive.
“Sony Corp. equips its PlayStation 3 (PS3) game consoles with Blu-ray drives to win people to the rival high-definition DVD format, and Toshiba should use a similar tactic, said Toshiba Senior Vice President Hisatsugu Nonaka.
“The demand is there: people want to watch their favorite movies in high-definition on the road,” he told reporters at a news conference.”
Embedding HD DVD drives in all Toshiba notebook computers appears to be a smart move, as it could provide the HD DVD format with an easy way to gain a large amount of market penetration. Will Sony respond by including Blu-ray Disc drives in all Sony laptops next year?
Either way, it will be interesting to see if this significantly raises the costs of all Toshiba notebook computers. Current low end Toshiba laptops can be purchased for as little as $499. Will these budget priced Toshiba laptop models remain available to consumers, even with an embedded HD DVD drive? We will have to wait until next year to find out. One thing is for certain, this strategic move shows that Toshiba is still strongly dedicated to HD DVD. The format will not be going away any time soon. Found via CDRLabs.
Sharp is rumored to have a $100 PC drive in the works that plays HD DVD/Blu-ray/DVD/CD. If this is true, I can see laptop prices staying low.
Wow, if Sharp gets that out, I could see almost every laptop carrying a blue laser drive!