While Blu-ray seems to be winning the format war, Toshiba
isn't giving up easily. The company announced today that it is stepping up its HD DVD marketing campaign. Along with a series of
advertisements, showcasing the benefits of HD DVD, Toshiba will be cutting the price of their players by as much as
$200.
Toshiba America Consumer Products,L.L.C. ("Toshiba") today announced that it is stepping up its successfulmarketing
campaign for HD DVD as it experienced record-breaking unit salesin the fourth quarter of 2007. Major initiatives, including
jointadvertising campaigns with studios and extended pricing strategies willbegin in mid- January and are designed to spotlight the
superior benefitsof HD DVD as well as the benefits HD DVD brings to a consumer's current DVDlibrary by upconverting standard DVDs via
the HDMI(TM) output to near highdefinition picture quality...
...Taking the holiday season sales based on promotional prices into
fullconsideration, these new manufacturer's suggested retail prices (MSRP) aredesigned to meet the potential demand for HD DVD players
in the U.S.market. Effective on January 13, 2008 the MSRP of the entry-model HD-A3will be $149.99, the HD-A30, with 1080p output,
$199.99, and the high-endHD-A35, $299.99.
While Toshiba claims that this new promotion is a result of their
record-breaking sales, the steep price cuts make it look more like a last ditch effort to grab market share and clear out their existing
stock of players. Either way, it will probably make the format war drag on for another few months. If you'd like to read more,
Toshiba's entire press release can be found here.
