Is Toshiba fighting a personal war, and not a format war?

[tron3]

Look at the facts. Earlier in the war blu-ray had a comfortable 2:1 lead over HD DVD. Christmas time showed even more support for blu-ray, and things have become ridiculously good for blu-ray since the Warner announcement in early January to become blu-sclusive.

Now we have a 80/20 split in the format war. These are not mutally exclusive formats where each can sell independantly of each other. Suppose a fish market opens next to a vegetable stand. How much business does the vegetable stand loose? "That's a stupid question. They are mutually exclusive businesses." Exactly my point.

Blu-ray and HD DVD are not mutually exclusive markets. It's not like DVD and CD. These are both high def movie formats. Yet, in the light of the Warner defection to blu-sclusive, we all look at the Toshiba giant and watch it wobble on it's last leg. Fall, damn it, fall! Why doesn't this thing just fall and die? You have to wonder.

In short, I believe Toshiba is going to fight this war as long as there is studio support - period. It may come down to just one studio. Perhaps Universal, and I think Toshiba will not give it up. Why? Because they can.

You wonder why is Toshiba going against all good business logic and still persuing HD DVD? It's bad business for them, bad for their stock holders, bad for their image, and certainly bad for the consumers. So why does it continue? It has become personal. A single CEO is going to do serious financial damage to an otherwise brilliant corporation for the sake of payback to his ego. Millions will be lost because one person with power likes the lesser format.

Even Microsoft has quitely backed away and just shifted focus to downloads. They know a dying market when they see it. Why not Toshiba? It's personal. It's time to fire the person responsible for this mess. It was a good fight Toshiba. You had a good product idea, a good concept, and it was cheaper in every sense of the word. But you failed to look to the future as you are now.

Toshiba, you alone are standing in the way of a multi-billion dollar industry in which even you can share. Your petty parting shots does not amuse us. Stop making this personal.