The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) announced the other day that Apple will become a member of its Board of Directors.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs said; “Apple is pleased to join the Blu-ray Disc Association board as part of our efforts to drive consumer adoption of HD. Consumers are already creating stunning HD content with Apple’s leading video editing applications like iMovie HD and are anxiously awaiting a way to burn their own high def DVDs.”
A single-layer Blu-ray disc holds 25 gigabytes worth of data, while the dual-layer is, of course, double that amount.
Seth Jayson at Fool.com says:
“Personally, I knew it was only a matter of time before Apple announced that it would join Blu-ray. Say what you want about the cult of personality in Cupertino (and I do). One thing it doesn’t do is sign onto inferior technology, such as Blu-ray’s competitor HD-DVD. But until Apple’s announcement, I hadn’t found a compelling investment idea in the whole Blu-ray arena. Now I’m starting to wonder.
Is Apple the smart Blu-ray play? I normally don’t like to work too much speculation into an investment thesis, but I’m going to do it here anyway. While the official press release touts the format’s benefits for Mac users who like to cut their own video, Blu-ray, with its promise of major storage capacity (50 gigs per disc) as well as simultaneous read-write capability, can be much more than just next year’s DVD drive.”
“Apple has a long history of technical innovation around DVD hardware and software, and their support of the Blu-ray Disc format is a testament to their commitment of ongoing innovation. The Blu-ray Disc format provides the immense capacity and the revolutionary functionality that Apple’s loyal customer base will be sure to enjoy,” said Maureen Weber, chief BDA spokesperson and general manager of HP’s Optical Storage Solutions Business.
“We’re thrilled about Apple joining our 16-member board, and we look forward to working with them on the development and promotion of the Blu-ray Disc format.”
Additionally the next release of Apple’s QuickTime software, QuickTime 7, will feature the MPEG developed H.264 Advanced Video Codec (AVC) which has been adopted for high definition DVDs. Apple will release QuickTime 7 in conjunction with the release of Mac OS X version 10.4 “Tiger,” the fifth major version of Mac OS X that will ship in the first half of 2005.
Murdok | Breaking eBusiness News
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