Further to my previous blog. Here is a quote from Paul Thurrott on his visit to CES. I think looking at price for these devices when they eventually hit South Africa are going to be the deciding factor.
But the one thing I saw this week that really made me smile and think that everything was OK with the consumer electronics world was an HD DVD set-top box for just $499 from Toshiba that will ship this spring. This announcement came a day after Sony said that the initial release of Blu-ray devices would cost as much as $1800 and would ship later this year. Toshiba’s good old-fashioned competitive gumption is great for the industry and for consumers. Although I think Blu-ray will offer some technological advantages over HD DVD, the breakthrough price point on HD DVD has decided who won the first round. I’m all for standards, but if there have to be two formats, I think that starting things off with a price war is going to make everyone’s decision much easier.