Hewlett-Packard: HP Refocuses DVD+RW Market-Entry Strategy

Hewlett-Packard Company has announced that it will refocus it strategy to enter the DVD+RW market and accelerate its efforts toward bringing a 4.7GB DVD+RW product to market. HP continues to support the DVD+RW format, but -- contrary to its expectations announced in June -- will not introduce a 3.0GB DVD+RW product this fall. ""In reviewing current market conditions, HP believes there is limited near-term market potential for interim capacity rewritable DVD storage products,"" said Mike Matson, Vice President and General Manager of HP's Information Storage Group. ""If these market conditions improve, we may consider offering a 3.0GB DVD+RW at that time. Until then, HP will shift its focus toward 4.7GB DVD+RW as the next step."" Matson said that the market would be more receptive to a DVD+RW product when the installed base of DVD-ROM readers and DVD video players reaches a critical mass. This, together with increased use of rich, multimedia information, requiring expanded storage capacity, will drive the demand for a high-capacity 4.7GB DVD+RW product that can be shared universally. The 4.7GB DVD+RW format will offer the look, feel and ease of use provided by non-cartridged discs, which consumers have become familiar with in a music CD format. HP continues to build on its market leadership position and expertise in the rapidly growing CD-RW market. The company offers a complete line of high-quality, reliable and easy-to-use CD-RW products. With up to 650MB of capacity and the ability to be read in virtually any CD-ROM and CD-audio products, CD-RW meets the needs of most mainstream applications for storing and sharing information. About CD-RW CD-RW drives allow users to create, write, rewrite, store, manage and share data, music and photos on CDs. CDs can store up to 650MB of data - the equivalent of more than 400 standard high-density floppy disks, or 20,000 scanned pages of text. The speed of CD-RW drives is equal to that of a CD-ROM drive, allowing users to migrate to CD-RW drives without sacrificing performance. More information on HP's CD-RW drives is available on the Web at www.hp.com/go/cdr. Source: M2 Communications