http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/ Engadget Comments for Yowza: Toshiba's net profits plunge 95% thanks to HD DVD, flash prices http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/
I'll give them a virtual cuddle.]]>Apr 25th 2008 5:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/
Can I have a cuddle too...]]>Apr 25th 2008 6:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/Apr 25th 2008 7:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/Apr 25th 2008 7:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/Apr 25th 2008 8:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/Apr 25th 2008 5:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/Apr 25th 2008 6:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/Apr 25th 2008 5:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/Apr 25th 2008 5:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/
Although the biggest rewards come with the biggest risks, its a coin toss between how much you are willing to risk for how much gain.]]>Apr 25th 2008 6:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/
More concern to the market would be Toshiba's ongoing operations such as chip production. They still have the potential impact future earnings and Toshiba will just have to ride it out just like the rest of the industry.]]>Apr 25th 2008 6:55AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/
Ummm... have you been paying attention to what The Market has been up to the last few years?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_mortgage_financial_crisis
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The market wasn't nearly as responsible for the recession as the credit rating agencies that kept bolstering the trustworthiness of failing lenders. In this case the market wasn't "stupid" so much as it was "tricked". You can be cynical about the market all you want, but they got shafted almost as badly as the folks who got sold bad loans backed by (once again) b.s. credit ratings.

And yes, in this context the market is actually not stupid enough to not have anticipated this from Toshiba ages ago when it was clear that HD-DVD was fighting a losing battle. Anyone who still has money in Toshiba deserves their losses.]]>Apr 30th 2008 4:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/
Compare that to Motorola.]]>Apr 25th 2008 6:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/Apr 25th 2008 6:13AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/Apr 25th 2008 6:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/Apr 25th 2008 6:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/
HD DVD only appeared cheap because Toshiba massively subsidized the players to make them appear so. But the format still tanked and players went even cheaper only because they were on firesale. Toshiba lost so much money is precisely because they were subsidizing their players to capture the market.]]>Apr 25th 2008 6:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/
I don't think BD is that friendly - f'ing early adopters so hard their families felt it aside, noone else finds it odd that they released the PS3 with hardware that is completely upgradeable, but 900-1000 dollar disc players even AFTER the PS3 that are now almost just as useless as hd dvd players are currently? A variety of vendors shouldn't be used to justify this, as if HD had 'won', it would be 'friendly' using that logic.

HD DVD was well thought out and planned with the consumer in mind. Everything was built into the players from the getgo, and they were all upgradeable from day 1.
BD is more with the sellers in mind, imo. ]]>Apr 25th 2008 7:11AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/Apr 25th 2008 8:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/
HD DVD was "cheap" because Toshiba monopolized the format. Their only hope of beating off the industry-wide Blu Ray consortium was to sell as many players as possible and hope to capture enough share that BD would fizzle out. So they slashed prices and hoped for the best. They slashed prices so much that even an OEM branded version of their A3 design cost more than the A3 did. That shows you why the CE industry treated the format like dogshit - there was no money to be made when Toshiba even undercut its own OEM partner.

CE's aren't pricing BD players so high for no reason at all. It's a tradeoff between cost of production, currency rates, R&D, competition, marketing, and the price consumers are willing to pay. As competition increases (and it's increasing substantially), prices will fall. Every CE has new models coming out in the next 3 or 4 months and doubtless there will be a few cheap Chinese no-names before long too. Take your pick.

As an aside you claim Sony "bought people". Possibly so, but don't forget Toshiba and Microsoft did their share of buying too. Toshiba were not some innocent little flowers that were trampled on. Their hands are as dirty as anyone elses.
]]>Apr 25th 2008 8:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/
I wouldn't necessarily call it buying people off, I'd call it "ensuring their customers had the highest amount of content possible".

You can also take a look back and see that Blu outsold HDDVD every week after November '06. More PEOPLE bought Blu-Ray.

You should probably point the finger at the PS3 before pointing it at Sony buyoffs. The PS3 launch window was easily a million players in homes when HD-DVD hadn't even half the install base to begin with.]]>Apr 25th 2008 9:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/
Miko, they weren't "ensuring" anything for the customer- they were making damned sure they didn't create another abysmal failure. Blu-Ray may be technically superior, but for the consumer, it was not.]]>Apr 25th 2008 10:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/Apr 25th 2008 2:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/Apr 30th 2008 4:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/
* With the passage of time or after extended use, the reading, writing and deleting capabilities of the Product will eventually fail.
-------

Never in my life have I seen such an honest portrayal of the (grim!) realities of a flash memory stick portrayed so bluntly by a company with vested interest in selling said product to its customers.

My hat off to you for your absolute ruthless truth in marketing. It's such a rare things these days, I almost did a semi 'wtf?' after reading it.

AUD $12 well spent :)

Love,
tekdroid
PS. Shame about the financials. Chin up.
]]>Apr 25th 2008 6:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/
Microsoft is always honest like when they tell us the x-box is going to be the most reliable console on the planet. Or when they tell us Vista has sold above expectations and users are loving it.

Sony is always honest like when they had stellar movie ratings given by non-existent reviewers. And now, with them giving consumers a superior high-def format with more secure DRM, region controls, unfinished specs, interim video port formats, etc.

The catch phrase of our generation is "we continue to innovate"]]>May 1st 2008 5:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/

As far as I am concerned any company making a profit is a sound investment as long as the profits are regularly decreasing, this was a one time dealy.]]>Apr 25th 2008 7:00AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/Apr 25th 2008 7:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2327/2423035895_58c7727a52.jpg?v=0]]>Apr 25th 2008 7:59AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/Apr 25th 2008 9:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/
"..Before each night is done
Their plan will be unfurled
By the dawning of the sun
They'll take over the world..."]]>Apr 25th 2008 11:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/Apr 25th 2008 10:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/Apr 25th 2008 10:26AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/Apr 25th 2008 10:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/
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Ahhhahaha, talk about being a clueless BD-moron.]]>Apr 26th 2008 3:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/yowza-toshibas-net-profits-plunge-95-thanks-to-hd-dvd-and-che/
Absolutely correct! Too bad very apparently few on this board has any clue about the subject so they revert to monkey-pasting crap they've been spoon-feed with by either of the camps.
You can't expect these people, like Xym, to grasp it, even less accept it - hey, they think cheap prices are bad (anyone could start making HD DVD players, remember) while higher prices are good, especially when it's enforced by a cartell, in this case the BD mafia.
Classic clueless, twisted fanboy mantra.
God, I hate fanboys, especially dumb ones.]]>Apr 26th 2008 3:19PM