Samsung will introduce a dual format High-Definition (HD) optical disc player in time for the holidays. Samsung’s Duo HD player (BD-UP5000) will fully support both HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats and their interactive technologies, HDi and BD-Java. With the Duo HD consumers can enjoy additional studio content such as trailers, director’s comments, more elaborate interactive menus and behind the scene footage.

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They came, they saw, they conquered. Digital audio player, or MP3 player, was already common technology when Apple entered the market. First portable MP3 players where introduced as early as 1998. There were also many pioneering online music stores before the Apple launched iTunes. Apple made several things very well indeed as it plowed it’s way to digital music success. It managed to transport their good brand image to a portable music player and an online store and suddenly something previously considered geeky was seen as trendy. Also the integration of these two key components seems to have been a very good strategic move, and something competitors did not have for a long time. And the result - a stunning 100 million iPod devices and a staggering 2.5 billion songs sold. Cha-ching!

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Xbox 360 owners will soon be able to chat with their friends on Windows Live Messenger. This should happen on 7th May as part of the free Xbox 360 “spring update”. Users will be able to talk to one another using a virtual on-screen keyboard, a USB keyboard, or the new QWERTY Text Input Device.

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Microsoft will release and update to the device in order to fix bugs, but also to add new features. Recently it was discovered that the HD-DVD add-on drive has issues in audio track playback of HD-DVD titles, which has been described as “static popping” and “clipping” noises. Microsoft has however acknowledged this issue and will be delivering a software update for the device. The update will also bring DTS audio support and improved compatibility with HD-DVD titles.

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It seems that Sony’s strategy of using PlayStation 3 as the spearhead of the Blu-ray market penetration strategy is somewhat succesfull. While PS3 sales may suffer slightly from the relatively high price, the launch of the console is caused that Blu-ray sales are stampeding over HD-DVD figures. A market analyst report shows that the USA Blu-ray content sales in January were 68% of the total HD movie market and has increased to 72% just one week later.

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