Toshiba & Microsoft May Collaborate on HD DVD
June 28, 2005
Tokyo, JP - Reuters Tokyo reported that Toshiba and Microsoft would consider working together on the development of HD DVD players using Microsoft Windows software, a move that Toshiba hopes will help lower its development costs for the next-generation DVD player.
"We think the agreement will have practical benefits such as lower costs and shorter development times," Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida told a news conference in Tokyo also attended by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.
Toshiba, Japan's second-largest electronics conglomerate, plans to launch HD DVD players, which are based on one of two competing standards for next-generation optical discs, in the last quarter of 2005 in Japan and the United States.
Toshiba and Microsoft have been working together on developing computers and other mobile devices for several years. The companies announced a cross-licensing agreement in May that they said would allow them to use each other's patents on computer and digital electronics technologies, paving the way for a strengthening of their business ties.
Toshiba is the leader of the HD DVD camp. Sony Corp. heads a group favoring a rival technology called Blu-ray. The two sides have waged a three-year battle to have their standards adopted for new DVDs that promise much greater capacity than current discs.
Reuters also reported that Gates said Microsoft retained its neutral stance on the format battle, not explicitly supporting either side.
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