Apple to point Blu-ray gun at Microsoft

Stan Beer
Friday, 14 July 2006 18:42

Your IT - Home IT

It seems that everywhere you turn these days the age old feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys of the personal computing world, Apple and Microsoft, is resurfacing. In this epoch, however, the battlefield is not just desktop computing but online entertainment, whether it be music downloads or high definition video.

Microsoft has already publicly declared its hand in the high definition video war, lining up firmly behind the Toshiba led HD DVD camp. The software giant turned games console maker plans to incorporate HD DVD into its Xbox 360 platform in direct opposition to games console king and Blu-ray champion Sony.

Meanwhile, Apple has kept a relatively low profile in the building optical disc war as far as the general consumer public is concerned. In fact, however, Apple has already declared its hand. Apple is board member of the Blu-ray Disc Association. This, as others have pointed out, would suggest very strongly that Blu-ray players will be a feature of future Macintosh computers.

Apple's support for Blu-ray probably doesn't sit well with Intel, which supports HD DVD, but given Dell also supports Blu-ray what is the chip king going to do. Are HD DVD supporters NEC and Toshiba more important to Intel than Dell and Apple?

Despite Microsoft's overt support for HD DVD, it is notable that so far its commitment has amounted to little more than words. When a Toshiba executive put out the claim that Microsoft was planning to release an Xbox 360 with integrated HD DVD player, Microsoft issued a denial. To be sure, a plug-in for an external HD DVD player may become available but that's something quite different from an integrated player.

The difference between Microsoft's commitment to HD DVD and Sony's adoption of Blu-ray is stark. Sony has laid its cards on the table, while Microsoft appears to be taking an each way bet - appearing to support HD DVD but still leaving its the door slightly ajar with Xbox 360.

Apple, which has always been a technology driven company, appears to be in the Blu-ray camp and, given its once again growing influence in the home computer market, will, like Sony PlayStation 3, be a critical driver of Blu-ray going forward.