BenQ plans to offer blue-laser format DVD-ROMs drives based on the Blu-ray platform in the first or second quarter of 2006, according to associate vice president Alpha Tsai for the company's Storage Business Unit.
Although the result of the competition between Blu-ray and HD DVD to set the industry standard for next generation optical drives has yet to be decided, BenQ is wagering on Blu-ray for the time being, Tsai indicated.
Sony, the key member of the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), also plans to offer PC-use Blu-ray drives in the first quarter of next year, local industry sources pointed out.
On the other side of the divide, Sanyo Electric plans to offer chipsets for use in HD DVD drives starting in the first half of next year, in an effort to promote the HD DVD standard, the sources indicated.
Lite-On IT has not yet chosen which format the company will support, but it plans to offer blue-laser optical disc drives when the market emerges, possibly in the first quarter of 2006 at the earliest, according to the company.
Story source:
digitimes.com.
