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The Night They Drove Old HD DVD Down
February 27, 2008
In my in-flight quasi-groggy semi-sleep state, I saw Sony executives here in Vegas at the Sony line show strolling gaily a foot off the ground, sporting giddy Gene-Kelly-dancing-around-the-light post-singing-in-the-rain grins.
But there has been no waltzing, twisting or voguing on the HD DVD grave. Sony's chief marketing officer Mike Fasulo noted that Toshiba's HD DVD abandonment announcement was good for employee morale, but that for most Sony executives who knew what was going on post CES and Warner Brothers, the announcement was anti-climactic.
That doesn't mean managers here haven't exuded an extra layer of confidence and exhibited an extra spring in their step. There just hasn't been any obvious grave dancing, which is a good thing. After losing the Beta, DVD, Digital8 and ATRAC battles, Sony is likely just happy to put a format battle in the win column.
Sony's attitude was more like Abraham Lincoln's muted sigh of relief after Appomattox. Maybe that analogy is a reach (maybe?), but in dissecting the late high-def DVD war I have found other parallels to America's Civil War.
For one thing, this should have been over much sooner. The Bluecoats of both conflicts had clear superiority in resources, finances, manufacturing and manpower. On paper, both wars should've been over in months, if not weeks.
Like the Union, the Blu-ray camp may have been plagued by too many bosses with too many grandiose plans, and a George McClellan-like tendency to build a great looking and well-organized army — and then never use it. Like Lincoln, the Blu-ray union also had to deal with its own rebel-leaning border states, the half Blu-ray/half HD DVD Samsung and LG, as well as dual format studios, limiting its strategic and tactical flexibility.
Most of all, the rebels had Robert E. Lee, while the HD DVD redcoats (okay, so it's not a perfect analogy) had the indomitable Jodi Sally. Both Lee and Sally (even their names are similar) had no choice but to be bold and aggressive in order to have any chance in what appeared to be a lopsided match-up.
But like Lee losing Stonewall Jackson to friendly fire at Chancellorsville, unexpectedly losing Warner was a fatal blow to Sally and her domestic HD DVD team, leading to Antietam (Netflix), the Emancipation Proclamation (Best Buy) and Wal-Mart (Gettysburg) (yeah, I know, Antietam and the Emancipation Proclamation happened before Chancellorsville — I've already admitted it wasn't a perfect analogy, you Shelby Foote wannabe).
My heart goes out to the brave folks at Toshiba who pursued this own Lost Cause and surrendered with colors torn, but still flying proud. I still smile to myself when I think of Jodi dressing up in the schoolmarm-ish "Star Trek: The Next Generation" uniform to intro the HD DVD box set of the original series — and that she was actually supposed to wear the Lt. Uhuru mini-skirt uniform and was disappointed when it was unavailable and she didn't get to show off her legs.
I've sent emails to some folks I know at Toshiba to see what's happenin'. Not surprisingly, I have not received any responses. Heads will roll; unfortunate but de rigueur in situations like this.
But those heads will re-appear. It is a credit to Jodi and all at Toshiba that they gave as well, if not more, as they got for as long as they did. That's got be worth a great deal to someone in this not always civil business.
Posted by Stewart Wolpin on February 27, 2008 | Comments (2)
