Toshiba Confirm Blu-Ray Notebooks And Players In 2009
Toshiba have gone public with their plans to develop Blu-ray devices, as they were tipped to be back in July. The company has applied for membership of the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), the marketing and promotion organization behind the format, together with confirming that they intend to launch both standalone Blu-ray players and notebooks with integrated Blu-ray drives sometime during 2009.
Toshiba's involvement with Blu-ray has been a long time coming, not least because the company was responsible for the rival HD-DVD format. However HD-DVD failed to find favor with buyers, and so around eighteen months after announcing their format was dead, Toshiba have jumped onto the Blu-ray bandwagon.
In their press release, below, Toshiba highlight both the growth of Blu-ray products and the demand from consumers and retailers for them to produce their own range as key motivators. Back when HD-DVD collapsed, Toshiba had suggested that it would focus on digital delivery rather than another disc-style format.
Press Release:
Toshiba Applies to Join Blu-ray Disc Association
10 Aug, 2009Tokyo—Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502) announced today that the company has applied for membership of the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) and plans to introduce products that support the Blu-ray format.
As a market leader in digital technologies, Toshiba provides a wide range of advanced digital products, such as DVD recorders and players, HDTVs and notebook PCs that support a wide range of storage devices, including hard disk drives (HDD), DVD, and SD Cards. In light of recent growth in digital devices supporting the Blu-ray format, combined with market demand from consumers and retailers alike, Toshiba has decided to join the BDA.
Toshiba aims to introduce digital products that support the Blu-ray format, including BD players and notebook PCs integrating BD drives, in the course of this year. Details of the products, including the timing of regional launches, are now under consideration. We will make announcements in due course.