James Delahunty
29 Mar 2006 5:01
Following the decision by LG Electronics and Hewlett-Packard to produce products for both the rival Blu-Ray and HD DVD formats, Matsushita's Panasonic has shown its continued faith in the Blu-ray format by announcing it will only make Blu-ray players. The move by HP and LG was influenced by the inclusion of iHD in Microsoft's upcoming Windows Vista operating system. This way, since iHD is already part of the operating system, computer manufacturers can cut out the cost of the interactivity layer.
The Blu-ray camp declined to stray from the use of Java-based BD-J when confronted by HP however. Panasonic wont follow in the same path as LG and HP and today, company executives voiced their support for the Blu-ray format. Reid Sullivan, Panasonic's vice president of merchandising, told Reuters that the company had no need to produce players for both formats.
"We think adoption will be strong, based on broad support. For the first 12 months, we expect 4 million to 5 million units to be sold beginning in May and across all platforms, including standalones, computers and gaming systems," Sullivan said. Panasonic will be one of the first to start selling Blu-ray players when it releases its new player in September. It is expected to cost around $1500.
Source:
News.com