Toshiba kills HD-DVD to end the format war

In a move, anticipated by the media long before the press releases were written, Toshiba has killed off HD-DVD conceding defeat in the high definition format war.

The move comes at the end of a long line of set backs for the high definition disc, which has been locked in a battle of acceptance with Sony’s Blu-Ray format.

In a written statement a spokesperson for Toshiba said:

"We 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," said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation.

"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."

So the war is over, and I’m sure there will be scores of early adopters burned by Toshiba’s decision to bail out. Their players will probably sit alongside their old betamax players and Northern Rock bank statements, as they sit head in hands, wondering why luck seems to evade them. But what should the industry learn from this?

The first lesson is that format wars serve no purpose but to confuse consumers and hold back progress. The adoption of high-definition discs has been chronically poor compared to the uptake of DVD, when there was no rival format.

The second is that the industry is a fast moving and fickle business. While the media has been distracted by Blu-Ray and HD-DVD headlines, services like Xbox LIVE Marketplace movie rentals and Apple’s new movies service have crashed the high definition party, and already slashed the shelf life physical formats.

There will always be a need for a disc format, and the ease of use for the average consumer who has just migrated to DVD will guarantee success. But as the media crowns Blu-Ray HD king, ask yourself: ‘Does it really matter?’ It's just a matter of time.