Blu-ray vs HD DVD. How did Blu-ray Win the War

How did Blu-ray come out on top? I'm sure we'll see many Harvard Business Review case studies on this. Everyone is already comparing this to the modern day VHS vs Betamax battle of the early 80s.

Just like Betamax Toshibas HD DVD format looked very good.

- They were first to market
- Quality was just as good as blu-ray
- Extra capacity for movie extras
- Lower cost for disk production. HD DVD didn't need blue laser diodes
- Almost just as many movie titles as blu-ray.

In hindsight they made several strategic mistakes:
1) Toshiba could have used their cost advantage to by pricing their product very aggressively. This would have put them in front and kept them their. Since quality was the same it would have just come down to price at that point. Selling large volumes would have put a strangle hold on blu-ray.

2) Trying to compete with Sony's playstation strategy and using Microsoft's Xbox 360 to push their DVD player. The Xbox did not sell as high of volume as the playstation and the support from a 3rd party like MS was weak at best. This move put Toshiba at a disadvantage in terms of the compatible units of DVD players on the market.

3) Not partnering up with the likes of Best Buy, Blockbuster, Netflix, Target, and other major retails early enough. They should have been willing to make concession to grab early share.

In conclusion, the lack of volume for the Toshiba players on the market, coupled with their slow response to competitive pressures caused Toshiba to lose the battle. Also in my opinion they may have backed down too soon. I still felt they have enough time to make moves to correct some of their shortcomings.

Nick
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http://www.outervillage.com

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