Toshiba fires another shot over the bow of Blu-ray as it lowers the HD DVD prices again
By Captain Maverick
Jan 15, 2008 03:18 AM GMT
Toshiba Corp. said it is slashing the prices on its HD DVD format players by 40 to 50 percent while at the same time as major Hollywood studios cuddle up to the Blu-ray format high definition DVDS. Effective January 13th, Toshiba will be cutting the prices on its next-generation DVD players in an effort to boost the adoption of the player format. This means that Toshiba players will now be retail priced starting at as low as $149 up to $399 for the top-of-the-line model players. Toshiba executive Yoshi Uchiyama said in a statement that the company believes that if enough people own the HD DVD format player, that public demand will shift the weight of the format war in its favor. The company will be stepping up its marketing effort with a joint advertising campaign with studios and will be extending its pricing strategies. One of its promotions includes five HD DVD titles for free with the purchase of any of its HD DVD players. This may help Toshiba as the battle seemed to tip in the favor of Sony earlier this month when Warner Bros. said that it would offer exclusive Blu-ray support when it had previously supported both formats. Warner may end up having to rethink its position if Toshiba has its way and more households sport HD DVD players due to being price point leaders.
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