Microsoft stays mum on Blu-ray Disc support
InfoWorld | at | by Mike
Microsoft shrugged off HD DVD's demise on Tuesday, declining to say if or when it would support Blu-ray Disc for the Xbox.
Microsoft steadfastly backed HD DVD, selling an external drive for the Xbox for $129.99. That offer was still on the U.S.
Xbox Web site as of Tuesday, despite the news that Toshiba will scuttle the format. Toshiba had been the lead electronics manufacturer in a coalition of companies pushing that format but content producers have thrown their support to Blu-ray.
Microsoft's decision to make the HD DVD drive external rather than within the console "was quite a strategic move on their part," said Paul O'Donovan, principal analyst with Gartner.