Sony in Talks with Microsoft, Apple About Blu-ray

Sony Electronics US President Stan Glasgow has revealed that the company is currently in talks with software giant Microsoft with regards to the Blu-ray format. No specific products were mentioned, but it is expected that Microsoft will offer a Blu-ray X-box 360 Add-on, similar to what they offered for the now dead HD DVD format. As it stands, Microsoft's gaming console is at a distinct disadvantage to Sony's PlayStation 3 which includes a Blu-ray player in every console. Sony is also in talks with Apple, who has been extremely quite about offering Blu-ray drives despite being a part of the Blu-ray Disc Association. It was rumored that Apple was prepared to offer a Blu-ray drive with the latest upgrade of their MacBook Pro laptops, but that there were size and power consumption issues. It is expected that Apple will incorporate Sony's new drives, which are much smaller and use less power, this summer when they are released. Additionally, Sony predicts that the price of Blu-ray players will fall to $299 by the end of the year. This is not much of a stretch, with the upcoming Sony BDP-S350 carrying a retail price of $399 and coming out way before the 2008 holiday season.
Source: Finanical Times | Permalink	Relevant for:

Brain Sturgeon  » Mar 07, 2008
About time Apple added BD support to OS X. I've been itching to put a BDRW drive into my Mac Pro.

IcoHolic  » Mar 07, 2008
$299 is still excessive, they need to hit the $199 price point for Christmas, if they want the adoption to come faster. They lose a pile of money on the PS3 production.. might as well lose on standalone too.

ground chuck  » Mar 07, 2008
xbox and blu-ray that sounds so, bitter sweet.

E-Dogg  » Mar 07, 2008
This is great frigging news! More support means more blu films being sold.

aheintz  » Mar 07, 2008
When you think of it it's a win win for everyone Sony makes money on the Licence fee and Microsoft makes money on the player (well maybe).

Minimejer05  » Mar 07, 2008
Thanks for the info.

X-Man777  » Mar 07, 2008
Just more goodies in store for us. I don't care how long it takes for these companies to talk, decide and produce these items. Just do it right. Perfection takes time.

Jim L  » Mar 07, 2008
I'm not getting a new iMac until it has a BD superdrive built-in. Until then, I'm holding off! As far as the Microsoft news, I hope that Sony is very careful in forging alliances with them.

tru blu  » Mar 07, 2008
IcoHolic $299 is a great price, considering the cost of dvd took much longer to drop. And here in Australia the Sony BDPS300 is $699. And that's the base model. These companies are still trying to make money. Look what happened to Toshiba & HD DVD... Dead!!

Xerious  » Mar 07, 2008
way to stick it to those xbox fanboys... "the customer has choice = the customer must pay if he wants an immersive experience out of the box." if you play with microsoft, you will pay for every piece.

AikonEnt  » Mar 07, 2008
While I'm not overly fanatical about Blu-ray being associated with the crapbox, this add-on will only be a movie player I'm assuming (as with the HD-DVD add-on) and therefore all crapbox software will still be limited in size to DVD's. Even M$ wouldn't be dumb enough to force the add-on onto users to play games would they?

NovaBomb  » Mar 07, 2008
Give it a year or so and I bet Xbox will start making games which will require a blu-ray add-on to playb :P

CptGreedle  » Mar 07, 2008
I sure hope Apple adds Blu-ray software support. i will buy a BD burner for my iMac as soon as they announce this!

Rike255  » Mar 07, 2008
They're not going to make games for Blu-ray. They'd make an Xbox720 before that. The blu-ray drive will be similar to what they did with the HDDVD Add-on. Except I would rather they made it an internal drive on their high end Elite Model.

jk1138  » Mar 07, 2008
If Xbox gets a BD drive, I will be getting another Xbox, that would be SWEET!

swanson  » Mar 07, 2008

A Xbox BD drive what be awesome. I would love to dump my PS3 since all I use it for is movies, plus I use a Harmony remote setup through infared so I could reach my goal of only having one remote! My gaming platform of choice has always been the Xbox 360 since I converted from the PS2. Hopefully it would be an addon like the HD DVD drive. I wonder how they would recreate the menu for the Xbox to incorporate a BD drive if people have a HD DVD drive as well? I would need to keep my HD DVD drive at least until I can get the Bourne series and Transformers on Blu. I find it ironic that Microsoft owns the rumble patent for the controllers which Sony will start paying a license for and now Blu has won and Microsoft will have to start paying Sony (unless they use another manufacturer in the BDA) to use their drive with the Xbox. God this is a crazy world! Here's to hoping that the BD Drive is released in the next few months!

marzetta7  » Mar 07, 2008
I'm right there with ya Jim L. I have my 20in iMac on eBay standby so that when the come out with iMacs with built-in BDR drives...I'm so game. I wan't at least a HD 24in too...for the Blu-ray movies of course!

pro-bassoonist  » Mar 07, 2008
Hopefully SONY stays away from Microsoft. Nothing good is to be expected from them. Pro-B

that1guypictures  » Mar 07, 2008

I think it would be great to have Blu-Ray integrated into Mac software and computers. However, an Xbox 360 add-on sounds like a sure way for Sony to shoot themselves in the foot by killing their own PS3. I personally think it would be great for 360 owners, but esentially, this would give the X360 the ability to perform every thing that the PS3 can. The gaming industry is worth a whole lot more than the high def industry at the moment, and I seriously doubt that sony would be willing to put their PS3 in jeopardy without a substantial sum from Microsoft, who doesn't seem all that interested in packaged media. It can play high-def games, BR movies and has more online content for presumably the same price.

kaliraver69  » Mar 07, 2008
Apple needs to integrate Blu-Ray into their Mac's but I don't see them doing this for at least another year. I hope I am wrong and they start releasing them at least on the Mac Pro & Mac Book Pro. As far as M$, screw those bustards.

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