Thursday, February 21, 2008
HD Format War is Over: Don’t cry for Toshiba, laugh at Wal-Mart
In 2007, retail behemoth Wal-Mart announced it was bringing in HD-DVD players made in China that would be retailing for around $200. In a nutshell, Wal-Mart’s support of HD seemed to be ringing the death knell for Blu-Ray. However, in a somewhat surprising turn-around, over the last month a number of studios jumped ship, Wal-Mart’s ship that is, and backed the great Blu-Way, leading to Best Buy and then Wal-Mart’s decision to also go Blu.
The odd thing here is that it seems Wal-Mart might have caved to studio pressure on this one, which would be a momentous role reversal indeed. Wal-Mart is used to calling the shots. Oh, well, war does strange things to a man. And, apparently, to America’s Most Massive, and possibly asinine, retail outlet.
