Apple to point Blu-ray gun at Microsoft

[marzetta7]

Apple to point Blu-ray gun at Microsoft

By Stan Beer
Friday, 14 July 2006
It seems that everywhere you turn these days the age old feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys of the personal computing world, Apple and Microsoft, is resurfacing. In this epoch, however, the battlefield is not just desktop computing but online entertainment, whether it be music downloads or high definition video.

Microsoft has already publicly declared its hand in the high definition video war, lining up firmly behind the Toshiba led HD DVD camp. The software giant turned games console maker plans to incorporate HD DVD into its Xbox 360 platform in direct opposition to games console king and Blu-ray champion Sony.

Meanwhile, Apple has kept a relatively low profile in the building optical disc war as far as the general consumer public is concerned. In fact, however, Apple has already declared its hand. Apple is board member of the Blu-ray Disc Association. This, as others have pointed out, would suggest very strongly that Blu-ray players will be a feature of future Macintosh computers.

Apple's support for Blu-ray probably doesn't sit well with Intel, which supports HD DVD, but given Dell also supports Blu-ray what is the chip king going to do. Are HD DVD supporters NEC and Toshiba more important to Intel than Dell and Apple?

Despite Microsoft's overt support for HD DVD, it is notable that so far its commitment has amounted to little more than words. When a Toshiba executive put out the claim that Microsoft was planning to release an Xbox 360 with integrated HD DVD player, Microsoft issued a denial. To be sure, a plug-in for an external HD DVD player may become available but that's something quite different from an integrated player.

The difference between Microsoft's commitment to HD DVD and Sony's adoption of Blu-ray is stark. Sony has laid its cards on the table, while Microsoft appears to be taking an each way bet - appearing to support HD DVD but still leaving its the door slightly ajar with Xbox 360.

Apple, which has always been a technology driven company, appears to be in the Blu-ray camp and, given its once again growing influence in the home computer market, will, like Sony PlayStation 3, be a critical driver of Blu-ray going forward.

I'm real excited to see what Apple has up their sleeve in terms of a Blu-ray offering.

[marzetta7]

Yet another report regarding Apple and Blu-ray...is the press preparing us for something? WWDC announcement of some sorts?...I don't know if I'd go that far, but as stated by the article, I think January of 2007 is nice timing.

http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/07...pple/index.php

Analysts: Blu-ray looms in Apple's future
By Jim Dalrymple

The competition between the competing next-generation optical disk technologies of Blu-ray and HD DVD has entered a new phase, as optical drive makers start rolling out the first products based on the rival technologies. As products based on these formats begin to arrive in stores, one major question for Mac users is: When will Apple integrate this new technology into its computers?

The question is more than just idle speculation. Apple enjoys a long track record of embracing emerging technologies—think FireWire, Bluetooth, and wireless networking, among others—and incorporating them into its offerings. Also consider that Apple is on the board of directors for the Blu-ray Disc Association, and it’s not hard to envision a future where Macs are sporting Blu-ray-based drives.

As with any future product, Apple is keeping its plans for Blu-ray under wraps. But industry analysts don’t think we'll have long to wait before Apple puts a Blu-ray drive in an Intel-based Mac.

The most likely candidate? The as-yet unreleased machine that will replace the Power Mac as Apple’s professional desktop offering.

“Apple’s past practices favor bringing new optical technologies to professional systems first,” said Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox. “DVD-RAM and DVD-R formats are excellent examples.”

Ross Rubin, director of analysis at market-research firm NPD Group, agrees that Apple will work with the professional machines first. However, noting that Intel-based pro desktops have yet to appear, he predicts Blu-ray drives won’t wind up in Apple systems for a few more months.

“January would be good—the timing for that would work out pretty well,” Rubin said. “It comes down to the introduction cycle, but we would see it in desktops first, no doubt.”

Behind the format feud

Blu-ray and HD DVD are competing optical disc formats aimed at storing large amounts of high-definition video. The competition between the two standards pits some of the biggest companies in the technology industry against one another.

Blu-ray is supported by consumer electronics vendors Sony and Panasonic as well as PC vendors Dell and Apple. HD DVD is backed by Toshiba, NEC, Intel, and Microsoft.

The Apple supported H.264 technology is part of the technical specification for both Blu-ray and the competing HD DVD format that hopes to beat out Blu-ray as the industry standard.

For the winner comes the spoils of being the industry standard and having acceptance from movie studios and supplies—which translates to bigger sales. And since the formats are not compatible the loser could easily drop out of the consumer market, much like what happened to the Betamax video cassette format when it lost out to VHS in the 1980s.

Toshiba began selling two HD DVD players in North America in April, beating rival Blu-ray Disc to market by about two months. Speaking in late May, a Toshiba executive said sales in North America were above 20,000. Samsung began shipping its Blu-ray writer in mid-June and BenQ has said it will ship its Blu-ray writer in August.

The impact on Apple

One drawback of the current format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray for the supporting companies is the confusion it causes in the market. Many people may hold off on buying products sporting either format until a clear winner has been found.

For that reason, Technology Business Research senior analyst Tim Deal believes Apple will shy away from adding a Blu-ray optical drive to any of its consumer Macs. “[The format war] will cause confusion in the market which will ultimately mean slow acceptance of the technologies in the consumer market,” he said.

But that doesn’t mean Apple will avoid adopting Blu-ray until after the smoke clears in the format battle, analysts add. “Apple is an active participant in the Blu-ray consortium, and they didn’t let the last format war between DVD- and DVD+ stop them from moving ahead with the drive,” NPD Group’s Rubin said. “I don’t see them rushing to support both—typically Apple supports one and they support it well.”

Look for Apple to follow the same playbook it used in adding DVD-burning SuperDrives to its hardware lineup: pro-level machines first, followed by consumer offerings. The reason for that strategy, Rubin said, has much to do with minimize the cost of adopting new technologies.

“One reason Apple been able to introduce new technologies at relative low cost has to do with cost reductions," Rubin added. “In DVD writing they were very good at timing—they made a volume purchase play and introduced the drives at a relatively low cost compared to what had been available. I see them taking that approach with Blu-ray."

[hmurchison]

Clearly checking facts is beyond Journalists


Yes Apple is a member of the Blu-Ray Board of Directors and yest they are members of the DVD-Forum. Yes they offer HD DVD authoring in DVD SP 4 and yes they have openly (to the freakin' Press apple.com/pr ) stated they support both formats.

So what do we get as consumers. Incorrect info that makes assumptions when it doesn't have to. Apple does not do the opposite of whatever Microsoft does. Yet journalist keep wanting to create some sort of mythical Battle that doesn't exist between Apple and Microsoft.

Apple's goal is to sell more Final Cut Pro Studio. They don't really give a rats ass who wins as long as they can support both and sell software. I work at an Apple reseller and I have access to their Sales Web online. I've viewed webinars with Apple engineers where they've answered this questions about Blu-Ray and HD DVD. They are firmly neutral!

I expect to see BTO options for Blu-Ray and HD DVD recorders by the end of Q1 2007. The next Mac workstations are NOT going to have either drive included as an options. You don't roll out a new platform (intel based) and add another layer of complexity by supporting a nextgen optical drive.

Common sense folks.

[ProvenFlipper]

As soon as I can get my hands on an Apple notebook with a blu-ray drive, I'll be purchasing it. I'm not too sure why, being that my current powerbook has a superdrive in it, and I've only burned like 3 DVD's in the year that I've owned it and only put a movie in to test playback quality when I first got it...

I guess I'm just an Apple and Blu-ray *****.

[Psiweaver]

I can see apple supporting blu-ray over hd-dvd but making hd dvd an option. Such that blu-ray is the recommended drive. It'll be interesting to see how microsoft responds to dell being in the blu-ray camp. I wouldn't be surprised if intel jumped ship either especially since dell is looking at more and more amd products.

[hmurchison]

Intel just wants to push VIIV. They really don't have much influence in the battle.

Microsoft has plenty of influence because they ship Media Centre PC. HP has plenty of influence because they ship Media Centre PC as well.

Dell doesn't worry me. You buy Dell because it's cheap. Hell HP is gaining on Dell in desktops and laptops anyways so I'd expect that in a few years Dull will be a far different company. Either they'll be able to compete or not.

Apple could push Blu-Ray over HD DVD or the inverse. It'll depend on who's buying the most drives.

[Psiweaver]

Yeah and whos doing the most authoring. Remember far more cameras will begin supporting Blu-Ray and there might be more tendancy to lean in the direction because of the large CE support.