One of my favorite positive-thinking aphorisms is "you can choose to start your day over." I'll bet right now many execs at Toshiba are thinking the same.
CE Pro: Best Buy to Promote Blu-ray; Who’s Next?
Reading this, I can't help but think of two things: first that this is game, set and match for Sony and Blu-ray. Second, that Best Buy's decision to actively promote one over the other is a marked contrast from Circuit City's professed format neutrality.
Why is one big box retail chain taking sides, but not the other? It's because they can. By any meaningful yardstick, the big blue box has a lot of clout. Even more than Toshiba, whom I suspect exerted some pressure on Circuit City after those reports of HD-DVD being cleared out began to circulate. Suppliers squeeze dealers, and dealers squeeze suppliers: it's the retail Circle of Life (go re-read my post from Christmas 2006 about the politics of allocating Playstation 3's). In this case, Best Buy is the 800lb gorilla, and Toshiba is ill advised to complain too loudly, lest they see orders dwindle from Best Buy for everything that isn't an HD-DVD player.
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CE Pro: Best Buy to Promote Blu-ray; Who’s Next?
Best Buy has announced that they will recommend Blu-ray as the preferred high-definition format for their customers the same day that Netflixdecided to drop HD DVD from its stocks.
Although Best Buy will continue to stock HD DVD hardware and software, the big-box retailer says that, beginning in March, they will “prominently showcase Blu-ray hardware and software products” both online and in-store (press release).
Reading this, I can't help but think of two things: first that this is game, set and match for Sony and Blu-ray. Second, that Best Buy's decision to actively promote one over the other is a marked contrast from Circuit City's professed format neutrality.
Why is one big box retail chain taking sides, but not the other? It's because they can. By any meaningful yardstick, the big blue box has a lot of clout. Even more than Toshiba, whom I suspect exerted some pressure on Circuit City after those reports of HD-DVD being cleared out began to circulate. Suppliers squeeze dealers, and dealers squeeze suppliers: it's the retail Circle of Life (go re-read my post from Christmas 2006 about the politics of allocating Playstation 3's). In this case, Best Buy is the 800lb gorilla, and Toshiba is ill advised to complain too loudly, lest they see orders dwindle from Best Buy for everything that isn't an HD-DVD player.
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