Toshiba Launches Price War to Save HD DVD
Toshiba America Consumer Products Monday said it is cutting prices of HD DVD players and stepping up its marketing campaign around the high-definition format in the wake of "record-breaking" unit sales for the fourth quarter of 2007.
The price war follows the recent devastating decision by Warner Bros. Entertainment to side with Sony and commit exclusively to its rival Blu-ray Disc format, which marred HD DVD's showing at last week's Consumer Electronics Show.
Warner Bros. was one of the last major studios to pick a side in the high-def DVD format war. The studio currently releases titles in both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats, but will drop HD DVD at the end of May.
The Warner Bros. disclosure came out just ahead of CES, causing the HD DVD Promotion Group, chaired by Toshiba, to cancel a press event at the show as it regrouped.
Now it seems the company has a strategy: step up the hype and slash the prices.
Toshiba in a statement Monday said it is launching joint advertising campaigns with studios and lowering prices on several HD DVD players in the U.S. The company claims to have secured roughly 50 percent market share in the next-generation DVD space in 2007, along with more than 80 percent of the market share for next-gen DVD-equipped notebooks for the fourth quarter of 2007.
Effective January 13, the retailer lowered the suggested retail price of its entry-level HD-A3 to $149.99. Its HD-A30, with 1080p output, is now priced at $199.99 and its high-end HD-A35 is priced at $299.99. On Amazon.com, prices for those devices dipped as low as $133.98, $173.98 and $277.98, respectively.
The vendor also continues to offer a promotion that gives consumers a choice of five free HD DVD titles when they purchase any Toshiba HD DVD player.