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Sony, NEC to Merge Optical Drive Teams

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the friction-waiting-to-happen dept.

illeism writes to tell us The Register is reporting that Sony and NEC are planning on merging their optical drive divisions. From the article: "Sony will be the bigger of the two stakeholders in the joint venture. It will own 55 per cent of Sony NEC Optiarc, to NEC's 45 per cent. Indeed, the JV will be run by Sony staffer Shinichi Yamamura, currently deputy president of Sony's Video Business Group."

2 of 92 comments (clear)

  1. HD vs Blu by Brushfireb · · Score: 3, Informative

    The move may pave the way for reconciliation between the two next-generation optical disc formats, Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD.

    I guess that means that Sony has learned since the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BetamaxBetamax Fiasco

    Although, in this case, I would tend to think that Sony buying their standards competitor, would mean that their Blu-Ray will win. Unless someone else wants to take up the HD DVD cause...

  2. Well that's just great by BestNicksRTaken · · Score: 3, Informative

    Sony's the one that's going to benefit from this, as they couldn't make a DVD burner to save their lives, NEC however is top of the market (especially with the hacked firmwares) along with BenQ.

    Could make life difficult for other vendors who rebadge NEC drives.

    Of course, this does mean that we can't buy NEC anymore because it's giving money to Big Bad, so better head off and grab a few ND-4551's before the takeover.

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