Sony and NEC to Merging Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Drive Businesses

[Karma]

Okay, now this is getting just weird...........:surreal:

Quote:

Sony and NEC announced today in Tokyo that they have signed an agreement to combine their optical disc drive businesses into a single company, Sony NEC Optiarc Inc., which will start operations on April 3, 2006.

Sony is the main backer of Blu-ray Disc technology while NEC decided last year to join the HD DVD camp, which means that the new joint venture company will manufacture and sale both technologies.

If Blu-ray Disc fails, Sony will still make money from HD DVD by manufacturing disc drives, and vice-versa for NEC. Could Sony end up manufacturing Xbox 360’s external HD DVD drive?

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/10339/...ve-Businesses/

But why would Sony want to merge their Blu-Ray drive business if they feel so strongly that HD-DVD will fail, unless they actually feel otherwise?

[pyro_dragun]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karma

Okay, now this is getting just weird...........:surreal:



http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/10339/...ve-Businesses/

But why would Sony want to merge their Blu-Ray drive business if they feel so strongly that HD-DVD will fail, unless they actually feel otherwise?

Sony's smart. This way it will be a win-win situation for them. Although blu-ray winning would technically be a "bigger" win, this way, no matter what happens, Sony makes money, which they desparately need right now.

[Karma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pyro_dragun

Sony's smart. This way it will be a win-win situation for them. Although blu-ray winning would technically be a "bigger" win, this way, no matter what happens, Sony makes money, which they desparately need right now.

It was a rhetorical question....

Of course it's a good business move, as it is for NEC. This way no one loses & everyone wins. It just disproves the Blu-Ray drive being the "be-all & end-all" that Sony made it up to be, especially since most people thought Sony had the upper hand against the HD-DVD camp. This merger goes with the flow of information and press releases that there are problems in the Blu-Ray camp, and Sony is hedging their bets.

[Dukefrukem]

pyro, why does sony "desperately" need money? they are in like 345435435 markets and doing quite well

[Karma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dukefrukem

pyro, why does sony "desperately" need money? they are in like 345435435 markets and doing quite well

They don't "desperately" need money, but they are definitely losing money right now for a variety of "smallish" reasons: R&D investment for Blu-Ray & Cell not paying off as fast as they expected, stock price drop, Sony BMG sales drop, the whole rootkit debacle.

[Dukefrukem]

youre forgetting they just moved up to 3rd in the digital camera market behind canon and kodak, very high in the personal PC department and of course, rake in the $$ with their motion picture production company... their fine

[Karma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dukefrukem

youre forgetting they just moved up to 3rd in the digital camera market behind canon and kodak, very high in the personal PC department and of course, rake in the $$ with their motion picture production company... their fine

Digital Camera and PC business aside, all Motion Picture companies are doing badly:

Quote:

Even a much-hyped giant gorilla, a geisha and a schoolboy magician won't be able to create a happy ending at the US box office, as Hollywood ends its most disappointing year (2005) in nearly two decades.

Plunging movie ticket sales, after a string of uninspiring remakes and movie sequels coupled with an explosion of the DVD and video game markets, are keeping audiences at home and have sent Hollywood into a deep existential crisis.

Ticket sale revenues dropped five percent in the first 11 months of 2005 while the number of Americans going to the cinema fell by 6.2 percent compared with the same period in 2004, according to box office trackers Exhibitor Relations Co Inc.

"It's not just a slump in box office, but also in sales of DVDs," Kyser told AFP. "This is mainly because of unattractive movies that don't appeal to young male audiences, the cost of movie tickets, parking, the shrinking window a movie's theatrical and DVD releases.

Plummeting 2005 box office sparks Hollywood crisis

This doesn't just show the declining movie sales, but also points out the decline in DVD sales, which is one (financial) reason there is a next-gen format war going on (get people to buy something new).