2008 in Review: HD DVD died, Smartphones Thrived
By Jenny • Dec 26th, 2008 • Category: Industry NewsThe war for the next generation DVD format ended when Toshiba announced the withdrawal of support for the HD DVD format. After that, supporters of the HD format shifted slowly to Blu-ray, essentially leading to its victory.
People, however, couldn’t freely migrate to BluRay because of the high prices of players and discs alike. Digital media downloads started becoming popular, as upconverting DVD players already satisfied the needs of those who wanted to fully utilize their HDTVs.
The DVD format war was over, but other wars were brewing, like the ones for the smartphone market. Apple created a revolution with the iPhone, and extended it with the release of iPhone 3G. Significant competitors emerged to take the place of the iPhone killer. T-Mobile G1 with Google Android, the Nokia N97 and RIM BlackBerry Storm are some of the main contenders for that title. Netbooks are also seeing an increase in popularity, with more people jumping in to grab them as small, cheap PCs.
Economic recession hit some gadget makers and sellers hard, resulting in price drops in many markets including the Sony products and TiVo’s. There were many retailers who had to close down, notable among which was Circuit City, the retail giant. This meant, much to the customer’s delight, liquidation sales.
People looking for MP3 players got some good deals on Microsoft’s Zune. HDTVs also saw some good price cuts. Other gadgets such as cameras also saw some major price drop. Depending on your perspective, this could be good or bad news for you, so it’s how you look at the economic recession that matters.
Tags for this article: mobile, netbooks, iPhone
