Toshiba may turn to Blu-ray

After losing its battle to make the HD-DVD the successor to the DVD, Toshiba Corp. is considering making products in the winning Blu-ray format.

Although Blu-ray is backed by Toshiba competitors Sony Corp. and Panasonic Corp., Toshiba has little choice, as it no longer makes recorders and players in HD-DVD.

The Yomiuri Shimbun reported Sunday without identifying its sources that Toshiba plans to enter the Blu-ray market, which proved more successful in wooing Hollywood studios. Toshiba spokeswoman Yuko Sugahara would not confirm the report.

"It is true that we are being flexible in looking into such possibilities. But at this point no decision has been made," she said Tuesday.

The move would be reminiscent of Sony's strategy after its Betamax videotape standard lost to Panasonic's VHS in the 1980s, and Sony ended up making VHS products.

The Blu-ray market could be too lucrative for Toshiba to pass up. The electronics maker racked up its biggest loss ever, ¥344 billion in its last business year, which ended in March.

Apart from home entertainment products, Toshiba is also a large maker of PCs, in which Blu-ray drives are slowly supplanting DVD drives. Without Blu-ray drives, Toshiba laptops could lose out to other manufacturers.